


Hydrangea

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Friends to Enemies, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Hogwarts years 1-7, M/M, Multi, No Voldemort, POC!Harry, POC!Hermione, Professor!Sirius, Quidditch, Uncle!Remus, Uncle!Sirius, cis!harry, trans!Draco
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-07 10:21:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7711294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco's parents don't understand that he isn't a girl and Harry Potter doesn't understand how lucky he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hydrangea

**Author's Note:**

> I've not had much experience with transgender fics, but I've done some research in hopes of getting everything right. If anything is wrong, I apologize. 
> 
> The characters and Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling.
> 
> Some canon information has been altered. 
> 
> Beta'd by myself so any mistakes are my own. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> ***
> 
> For Oliver.

Ever since he was little Draco has knowing something was different about him. 

He's heard stories from his mother and father about when he was born and all he could think about was wondering why he wasn't a boy. 

"But why?" he would always ask. 

Narcissa and Lucius always shrugged it off as 4 year old curiosity, but Draco, even then, couldn't understand why he was a girl.

By the time he was 7, Draco still didn't know. While all of his friends were playing dress up in their mothers' clothing and putting on make up, Draco didn't want to. His mother always said that was something little girls always did, just like having long hair was something girls just had. Draco hated his long hair and he hated the fact that his mother made him wear pink dresses. "But it makes you look so cute, darling. Why don't you like them?" she would ask every single time she tried to dress Draco in another dress. 

He didn't know why he hated them. He just did.

By the time he was 9, Draco had read enough books in the manor library to know that he wasn't like everyone else. The books were always about princes going after princesses and rescuing them from some terrible fate. Draco knew that girls were princesses, but he wanted to be a prince. Why wasn't he a prince?

"Mother, how do you be a boy? I want to be a boy." Draco told Narcissa one night as she was getting her child ready for bed.

"Well, I'm afraid that isn't possible, Cassiopeia. You, my little angel, were born a girl." she chuckled, tucking the bed sheets around the small body.

"But can't I be a boy? What's the difference?" 

Narcissa gave Draco a curious look and sat down on the bed, "Where's this coming from? Why do you want to be a boy?"

"I don't know. I just don't like any of the stuff my friends like and they're girls, too. I don't want to wear dresses either."

"Dear, that doesn't mean you want to be a boy. It just means that you don't like wearing dresses or playing the stuff your friends like to play."

Draco was quiet for a moment before sighing and looking up at his mother through his eyelashes, "So I can't be a boy?"

"Well.. I mean, you  _can_ , but I don't think you want that. I know my child and I know you're a girl."

Draco left it alone, feeling a little bit better at his mother's words. She was right. His mother would know what he was, wouldn't she?

When he turned 10, Draco was getting really excited to go to Hogwarts next year. But something kept bothering him. His mother got him a magical fairy box that stored jewelry in and every time it opened, fairies flew about the room in shades of pink, chanting about how beautiful the young Miss Malfoy was. 

 _Miss_.

Draco didn't like that.

After a lot of research in the library about girls, Draco stumbled across a book about parenting. It must've been in the wrong section of the library because it didn't seem to be the type of book he was looking for. He wanted to see if any other girls felt this way. Surely it would be written in a book about girls if it were a common thing. 

Placing the parenting book on another shelf, Draco accidentally missed and caused the book to go flying off the shelf and onto the floor. As if by magic, the book opened up to particular page.

"What it means for your child to be transgender." Draco read off the bold, black words at the top of the opened page quietly, bending over to pick up the thick book. 

 

_"To be born a particular gender is something out of our control, but what happens when your daughter tells you they want to be a boy or when your son tells you they want to be a girl?_

_In the wizarding world, the transgender stats are slightly higher than it is in the muggle world. The most common age children question their gender identity is age 5. I've had patients come in and try to rid these thoughts from their children with expert magic, but this is impossible._

_Your child doesn't feel like they're the correct gender. What's next?_

_First, you need to listen. This is crucial. Your child may be young, but I can guarantee you that these thoughts they're having will not go away even with magic._

_If they want to be called the opposite pronouns, then call them the opposite pronouns. Your child is still developing mentally and it could cause damage to their mental health by being ignored when it comes to something like gender identity."_

 

Draco read on and on about what to do if your child was questioning their identity and that's when he realized what was happening to him.

He was right, it was common and there was even a book about it. His mother had obviously read this book if she had it, so why did she basically say that he couldn't be a boy?

"But mother, the book in the library said that I could be a boy. Why won't you let me? I'm meant to be a boy, I just know I am."

Narcissa had heard this same argument for a year and she was getting tired of it.

"Cassiopeia! You are a girl, stop this foolish nonsense and go get ready to leave. If I hear another word about it, you're going to be in trouble."

Draco's head hung low in disappointment and sadness, but he nodded away and left for his bedroom. They were going to Diagon Alley to get his school supplies. Hogwarts was where he was going and as excited as he was to be going and learning magic, Draco couldn't help being more sad than anything.

"She's 11 years old, you'd think she would stop asking me why she isn't a boy. Lucius, I know she has difficulty fitting in with her friends, but Im worried she will do this at Hogwarts and have the other children make fun of her." Draco heard on his way up the stairs, making him sadder.

Would people really make fun of him?

 

They floo'd over to The Leaky Cauldron where Lucius tapped on some rocks to take them into Diagon Alley. Draco had been there before, but never through that entry way. Diagon Alley was one of his favorites places to go. His favorite was the ice cream parlor where he liked to get pumpkin and chocolate mixed flavor, laughing as his parents told him that sounded disgusting every time he got it. 

Narcissa went to get his school books while Lucius went to gather some supplies he needed, leaving him alone to get his robes. 

"What color, dear? Black or grey?"

"Black, please." Draco told the older woman as he looked around. His eyes caught his reflection in a mirror and his stomach flipped at the sight of his long, blonde hair. He wished it would go away.

The woman had him stand on a platform as she measured all over and wrote down numbers on a piece of parchment.

"Okay, I think I have something we can use. I'll be right back." 

When she left, Draco looked around some more and spotted a shop just outside of the windows,  _Mandy's Magical Salon._

Maybe he could just...stop on over there on his way out...

After all, he  _did_ have a bag full of gold. 

After being poked and prodded at for about 20 minutes, Draco's robes were ready and placed in a gift box. 

"Thank you." He tells her and places 6 galleons on the table. 

Looking around once he got outside, Draco noticed all of the boys around had short hair. He looked down at the jeans and red shirt he was wearing and thought maybe he was okay. He didn't look too much like a girl. 

If he went and actually cut his hair, Draco would get in trouble. His mother would yell at him once they got home and his father would be furious as well, but mostly because he didn't ask to get a hair cut. He could just say that he wanted new hair for school. 

Quickly walking across to the new shop, Draco stepped inside with his robes and looked around nervously. Nobody else was in there except for a man and a woman behind some tall silver chairs, cleaning up some supplies.

"Need some help, dear?" the woman gave him an amused smile.

"Oh, um, I think I would like a haircut."

"Sure thing. Hop on the chair and we can get started. Are your parents with you?"

Draco froze and stared. What if he lied and got in big trouble? Did they send people to Azkaban for this?

"Um, no. They're getting my other stuff for Hogwarts, but told me to come get a haircut."

He assumed the salon was around for muggle borns since most wizards just used magic to get their hair the way they wanted so if Draco had to pretend to be muggle born for this, he would.

"Ah, I remember my days at Hogwarts. Have a seat." the nice lady gave a smile and got out some kind of plastic gown.

How did he say that he wanted the boy next to her to cut his hair? Did she even know how to cut hair for boys?

"Are you sure you want a haircut? You don't seem to want one."

"No, I do!" Draco said quickly, as though his throat was on fire and the only way to get rid of it was to talk, "I was just wondering...do you know how to make my hair like a boy? I want it that way... like his." he pointed at the boy and shuffled his feet awkwardly.

She seemed to be hesitating on whether or not she should cut Draco's hair since it was so long, but decided that it would be alright. 

"I think I can make that happen."

 

 

His parents weren't very happy.

All Naricssa and Lucius Malfoy did for a month was complain that their daughter had chopped all of her hair off without permission. 

"You're starting Hogwarts soon, dont you think its time you grew up a bit? I dont understand why you keep insisting on flustering your father and I. I didn't think the rebellious stage came until later, but apparently we've gotten it early."

Every time his parents claimed Draco didn't know what he was talking about or that this was a way to make them mad, he felt his heart sink in his chest. 

He couldn't explain why he didn't want to be a girl, he just didn't.

Over the course of the last year, ever since Draco read that book in the library, he's been researching it more and more. He's found out that the puberty his parents spoke about a lot could be slowed down. He was tempted to ask his parents if he could do that, but he knew they would say no. It was difficult to find himself when his own parents kept insisting that everything he thought about himself was wrong. 

"You're a girl, stop sitting like that."

"Where did this name Draco come from? Your name is Cassiopeia and thats what we're calling you."

"Do you hate us? Is this why you're being like this?"

"Honey, its just a phase. Please remember that and stop being so upset all the time."

Those were just a few things Draco has heard since then. He didn't find the name he wanted to use until he was reading for fun once about where his family gets their names (but he also wanted to see if he liked any of the other names in the book. Maybe if he got one from a constellation like everyone else in the Black family his parents would like it and use it) and came across Draco. 

It just felt right. 

Draco Malfoy. That was his name. 

He spent days scribbling the name on every piece of parchment in the manor and it greatly annoyed his father. 

"Even if you _were_ a boy, theres no way I would've ever named you Draco. What does that even mean? You know what, nevermind. Go get ready for bed. I'll have Dobby get your things ready for in the morning so you can sleep in longer." Lucius rubbed his hands over his face in frustration, shooing Draco out of his work room. It was where Lucius did things for the Ministry at home and took them to work with him to file away. Paperwork could be the reason his father is always grumpy, Draco thinks. 

 

"I still cant believe you had your haircut, Cassiopeia." Narcissa complained once more as she grabbed ahold of Draco's hand to apparate him and Lucius to Kings Cross. 

"Sorry." Draco mumbled out, but not actually feeling very sorry at all.

Suddenly, his whole body felt like it was being pushed through a two inch wide tube and his grip on his mother tightened. Draco hated apparating and vowed he would never do it when he was older. The floo worked perfectly well, thank you very much. 

Their house elf, Dobby, had come separately with Draco's luggage while Lucius carried Draco's Owl. He was going to get a cat, but his father insisted on the Owl so they could have a private one to write back and fourth with while Draco was away at school. 

"Write us as soon as you can, dear. I want to hear all about the train ride to school and what house you got sorted into. Be careful who you make friends with too, I don't want anyone dishonest to be associated with this family."

His mother's words were meaningless to him; as if he would ever let anyone come to the manor. His room was pink and girly with dolls everywhere because no matter how many times Draco tells them he doesn't want them, his parents get them anyway. 

When they crossed over to the platform to the Hogwarts Express, Draco kissed his mother and father goodbye and pulled his luggage behind him. All around were children saying goodbye to their families and making their way onto the train in the last few minutes they had before it takes off for the school. An empty compartment was where Draco put his things and sat down at. As much as he wanted to make more friends and talk about what Hogwarts will be like, Draco was afraid that somehow people will know his name isn't actually Draco. 

A loud horn from the train went off and Draco watched the platform slowly pass by, parents and siblings waving to their loved ones, wishing them off with good spirits. Draco even saw his own parents doing the same, but he couldn't bring himself to wave back. 

For a while it was just him in the compartment, but then a dark boy with even darker hair slid the door open and smiled.

"Hi. Can I sit here?"

Draco nodded his head, "Yeah, sure."

He must be a first year like Draco was. He didn't look much older than Draco was. 

"Whats your name? Im Harry Potter."

What should he say? Would his parents somehow know that he told people his name was Draco? The last thing he wanted was for everyone at school to think he was a liar. 

"Draco Malfoy."

The name fell from his tongue before he had any time to even think about it so he supposes that he's either going to be a big liar at school, or nobody will ever know.

"I like your name. Constellation, is it? My uncle Sirius has a name like that."

Sirius? Draco has heard that name before, he swears he has. He couldn't place where he'd heard it though. Plus it was a star name like the rest of his family on his mother's side. Perhaps thats where he was from. 

"He's actually going to be a professor at school this year. It's his first year. He wanted to make sure nobody was mean to me, I think." Harry laughs a little awkwardly, looking out of the window and fixing his glasses in the relfection. 

The rest of the ride was pretty quiet. Well, except for the part where Draco and Harry got some sweets from the cart witch. "Chocolate frogs are my favorite. Do you collect the cards, too?" Harry wonders, biting the head off of the frog. "Ive got Dumbledore again!" He groans, flipping the card over to show Draco. "I have a box full of him. My dad days that Dumbledore is the best one, but I think he's just trying to make me feel better."

"I don't collect them, no. Sorry. Do you want my card? I have Ollivander this time." Draco hands Harry the card and smiles at the look of happiness that spread out on his face. 

"Havent got him yet, thank you Draco."

That was the first time anyone has ever called him Draco and it made Draco feel more happy than he ever has. Harry really believed he was a boy. If he ever had any doubts about wanting to be a boy, they were washed away in the two seconds of pure bliss that he just experienced from being called Draco.

 

The first years were brought to the castle from little boats and the other students used carriages of some sort as far as Draco could tell. Either way, Draco thought the boats were cooler. The lake looked really pretty at the way the moonlight hit it just right on the top, little ripples popping its way down as the boat passed through. The castle kept getting bigger and bigger as they inched closer towards it. He was surely going to get lost. The only thing he could hope for was that Harry and him get put in the same house. 

The gigantic man called Hagrid moved them out of the boats when they reached an underpass by the castle and lifted each of them up onto the rocks so they could go inside through a door. An old woman let them in and she had a sour look on her face. Draco didn't think he liked her very much.

"In a few moments, you will be going through the big doors on my left and you will be sorted into your houses with your classmates. Please remember that your houses will be your family while here at Hogwarts. You will eat with them in the Great Hall and sleep with them in your dormitories. Classes are shared between two houses so be sure to be on good terms with each other so you don't disrupt the class. You may earn points for going good deeds or by working hard in class and you can also lose points by not following the rules. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup. A very desired item here at Hogwarts, you will come to notice. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask them."

Draco needed to talk to her. He needed to tell her that he wasn't a girl and to please not put him with the girls to sleep. Theres no way anyone would believe him if he slept with the girls in his house. 

But he couldn't do it in front of everyone. 

"No questions? Alright then, Professor Dumbledore will be waiting for you now." She waved her hand towards the two doors that reached as high as the ceiling as a man with a cat next to him lead the group inside. 

"Professor — um, sorry. I dont know your name." Draco confesses to her shyly.

"Professor McGonagall. Is something wrong?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall. My information here says Im a girl and that my name is Cassiopeia, but...it's wrong. My name is Draco Malfoy and I'm a boy."

His heart thumped in his chest wildly from how nervous he was. He hadn't been expecting her to listen to him and take him seriously, but to his surpirse, she did. She seemed to understand what he was saying and assured him she would let the headmaster know of this misinformation they were provided with by his parents. 

"Come, Draco. The sorting is starting." McGonagall lead him into the Great Hall behind everyone else, hand on his back.

The eyes of all of the other students fell upon him and Draco suddenly didn't feel as nervous anymore. Perhaps things at Hogwarts would be better than they were at home. 

A wooden stool was placed on the center of the stage and an old hat lay flat upon it. Draco's family didn't tell him much about Hogwarts, just that he would love it when he attended. To his surprise, the hat was what would be sorting them. Draco glanced around as the hat started to sing songs about the four houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. 

The sky seemed to be bewitched to look like the sky outside and it had Draco thinking of doing the same at home. It would make his room a little more bearable to be in. The four tables were full of students and even though Draco knew he would probably get Slytherin because thats what everyone else in his family got, Draco didn't think Harry would get in it. When the hat sang about Slytherin, he could see the look on Harry's face.

"You don't want to be in Slytherin?" He asks quietly, trying not to disturb the sorting that had begun. 

"No." Harry says from beside him, "I want to be in Gryffindor. That's what my parents were in. What do you want to be in?"

"Slytherin. My family has always been in that house." 

He thinks he saw a frown on Harry's face for a split second, but Draco wasn't sure. "I was hoping we would be in the same house. Maybe we will be. You never know." 

 

They weren't. 

They had both gotten the houses they wanted — Slytherin and Gryffindor. 

But they both promised to hang out whenever they could. It had been the very next morning and they were coming to the doors at the same time, the messy robes on Harry made Draco laugh. 

"Didn't you ever learn to put them on properly? They probably take away points for it." Draco grinned, waving him off as he went in to sit at the Slytherin table. 

The sorting last night made Draco feel even better than when Harry called him by the name Draco. Hearing Professor McGonagall say _Draco Malfoy_ wasa dream come true. His professors at school were doing it and his parents weren't; Hogwarts was definitely going to be better than home. 

His timetable seemed to look okay, too.

 

_**Monday** _

_**7:00 am - 9:30 am -** Breakfast_

_**9:30 am - 9:45 am -** Break _

_**9:45 am - 10:45 am -** Potions _

_**10:45 am - 11:00 am -** Break_

_**11:00 am - 12:00 pm -** History of Magic_

_**12:00 pm - 1:00 pm -** Lunch_

_**1:00 pm -1:15 pm -** Break_

_**1:15 pm - 2:15 pm -** Charms_

_**2:15 pm - 2:30 pm -** Break_

_**2:30 pm - 3:30 pm -** DADA_

_**3:30 pm - 6:00 pm -** Break_

_**6:00 pm - 8:00 pm -** Dinner_

 

_**Tuesday** _

_**7:00 am - 9:30 am -** Breakfast_

_**9:30 am - 9:45 am -** Break_

_**9:45 am - 10:45 am -** DADA_

_**10:45 am - 11:00 am -** Break_

_**11:00 am - 12:00 pm -** Herbology_

_**12:00 pm - 1:00 pm -** Lunch_

_**1:00 pm - 1:15 pm -** Break_

_**1:15 pm - 2:15 pm -** History of Magic_

_**2:15 pm - 2:30 pm -** Break_

_**2:30 pm - 3:30 pm -** Transfiguration_

_**3:30 pm - 6:00 pm -** Break_

_**6:00 pm - 8:00 pm -** Dinner_

 

_ **Wednesday** _

_**7:00 am - 9:30 am -** Breakfast_

_**9:30 am - 9:45 am -** Break_

_**9:45 am - 10:45 am -** Herbology_

_**10:45 am - 11:00 am -** Break_

_**11:00 am - 12:00 pm -** Transfiguration _

_**12:00 pm - 1:00 pm -** Lunch_

_**1:00 pm - 1:15 pm -** Break_

_**1:15 pm - 2:15 pm -** History of Magic_

_**2:15 pm - 2:30 pm -** Break_

_**2:30 pm - 3:30 pm -** Charms_

_**3:30 pm - 6:00 pm -** Break_

_**6:00 pm - 8:00 pm -** Dinner_

_**12:00 am - 1:00 am -** Astronomy _

 

_ **Thursday**   
_

 

_**7:00 am - 9:30 am -** Breakfast_

_**9:30 am - 9:45 am -** Break_

_**9:45 am - 10:45 am -** Charms_

_**10:45 am - 11:00 am -** Break_

_**11:00 am - 12:00 pm -** Herbology_

_**12:00 pm - 1:00 pm -** Lunch_

_**1:00 pm - 1:15 pm -** Break_

_**1:15 pm - 2:15 pm -** Transfiguration_

_**2:15 pm - 2:30 pm -** Break_

_**2:30 pm - 3:15 pm -** DADA_

_**3:15 pm - 3:30 pm -** Break_

**_3:30 pm - 4:30 pm -_ ** _Flying_

 **_4:30 pm - 6:00 pm -_ ** _Break_

 **_6:00 pm - 8:00 pm -_ ** _Dinner_

 

_ **Friday**   
_

 

_**7:00 am - 9:30 am -** Breakfast_

_**9:30 am - 9:45 am -** Break_

_**9:45 am - 12:00 pm -** Potions_

_**12:00 pm - 1:00 pm -** Lunch_

_**1:00 pm - 1:15 pm -** Break_

_**1:15 pm - 2:15 pm -** Charms_

_**2:15 pm - 6:00 pm -** Break_

_**6:00 pm - 8:00 pm -** Dinner_

 

_Breaks are to be used to get to class on time. Please make sure to get your necessary supplies during those times, bathroom breaks may be taken in class if you do not have enough time. The first two weeks of school may show you leniency if you get lost on your way to class. If you choose to do so, you may ask your head of house for a map. After the two weeks are up, tardiness will not be excused. If you have any questions, please refer to your House Prefects or your Head of House._

 

 

As Draco read over his timetable, he made a quick note to ask for a map. There's no way he would be able to remember where to go for all of his classes. He honestly didn't see how anyone ever  _did_ remember where to go. The castle was huge with moving stair cases, and loads of doors everywhere that made Draco's brain feel confused. 

"Good morning everyone." A deep voice started talking from the stage at about 9:00 am when all of the students had made their way into the Great Hall for breakfast. There were smoked sausages, stacks of pancakes and waffles, muffins, oatmeal, french toast, fruits, cereals, eggs, bacon, and practically anything you could possibly think of. The long table was filled with all sorts of foods to choose from. What Draco chose was some french toast with sliced bananas and honey on top then some of the smoked sausages that turned out to be maple flavored. 

Everyone's eyes focused on the Headmaster as they ate at the same time, except for Draco. The old man really seemed interesting and his welcome speech last night gave Draco the impression that he gave similar speeches often. 

"We have officially began the new school year and I would like to welcome the first years once more to our fine school. I would like to also remind everyone again that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to every student unless you are accompanied by a teacher.  Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has also asked me to remind everyone's fresh brains that no magic is allowed to be done in the halls." 

Sitting at the teachers table, Draco recognized the man with the cat and assumed by his snarky smile that he was Mr. Filch. The long table full of professors seemed to be filled with just as many choices of food, but as his eyes scanned down the line, he noticed a man with shaggy black hair and a mustache making faces at the Gryffindor table. Or, more particularly, at Harry. That must be Harry's uncle Sirius. 

 

Draco ended up making a somewhat friend at the Slytherin table during breakfast. His name was Blaise Zabini and he just randomly started a conversation with Draco that seemed a little inappropriate, but Draco didn't mind. It was about his mother and how he didn't have a dad because his mother's multiple husbands kept dying. Draco had a feeling that those men all had lots of money, but he didn't want to comment about it to his new friend. 

"What classes do you have? Oh, we have the same ones. Cool." Blaise had said after taking a peek at Draco's schedule. The more breakfast went on, the more Draco found out about Blaise. He learned that his favorite color was green, he liked to play Quidditch (Chaser, he tells Draco), and that he has spent every Summer since he was 6 in France.

"I can speak a little bit of French, but my mother is fluent. Can you speak any languages besides English?"

"Of course, I can. Pureblood families always get taught, don't they?"

"Well yeah, I just didn't know you were Pureblood. What's your last name again?"

"Malfoy."

Blaise got a confused look on his face, "I didn't know the Malfoy's had a son." he shrugged it off quick after, going back to bragging about his family. 

But, thankfully, before Draco had to talk about his own family, they were told to go to class. 

His first one was Potions and was right down the Dungeons with the Slytherin dormitory so Draco was able to get his things quickly. A book called  _Magical Drafts and Potions_ was among the things he grabbed and good thing too. Professor Snape had made them get it out as soon as they walked through the door into the chilly and dark classroom. It seemed dark and dusty with jars of strange things inside of them sitting on shelves. In the back was the obvious shelves and containers full of potions ingredients and next to that was a few extra cauldrons. Perhaps if anyone didn't have one or something happened to it.

"Welcome to first year Potions. Here, you will be taught how to brew a potion that acts as an antidote to most poisons, where to find a bezoar, the types of cauldrons, types of vials, the 12 uses of dragon blood, and where to find potion ingredients. Does anyone know what a bezoar is?" Professor Snape said confidently with a snarl of the lip.

Draco wouldn't expect himself to like someone like that, but he seemed to be quite the good teacher so far, even if it's only been 5 minutes. He shared class with the Gryffindors he noticed as he looked around to see if anyone was raising an hand. But where was Harry?

Just as Professor Snape called on a dark bushy haired Gryffindor girl, Harry came bursting into the classroom out of breath.

"Sorry, sir! I went to Gryffindor Tower straight from the Great Hall to get my things, but then I realized I forgot my text book when I was halfway here and had to go back, but then I forgot the password to get in and the Fat Lady wouldn't let me in so I had to wait until someone left to-" Harry was cut off by snickers from the class and an annoyed professor. "Sit down, Potter."

Harry looked just as confused as Draco did in that moment because Professor Snape already knew his name. 

"How did you-"

"Sit or Gryffindor will start off losing points, is that how you want this class to go, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shook his head quickly and took the empty seat next to a red haired Gryffindor boy since there weren't any seats by Draco available.

"As I was saying... Does anyone know what a bezoar is? How about you, Potter?"

Harry looked up from his things and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He clearly had no idea what that was and Snape knew it before he even asked considering the look on his face.

"Pity. I'd imagine with a mother and father like yours that you would've been prepared for my class, but I suppose not."

The hand belonging to the dark bushy haired girl went up again and didn't wait to be called on, "A bezoar is a stone from the stomach of a Goat that acts as an antidote for most poisons like the potion you told us you could teach us. It's also used as an ingredient for several potions."

"Correct. Everyone turn to page 2 in your books and begin copying down the information on bezoars. You will need to know the poisons it will counteract and which it wont, where it's found, where the name comes from, and what it's made of."

Draco opened his book and pulled out a piece of parchment with his quill and began reading about the bezoar. The page wasn't that long so maybe they won't take long and can start brewing a potion today. That was one of the many things Draco was looking forward to now that he was attending Hogwarts. Another was being able to do charms that will make his life easier. Maybe there's a charm that can fully turn you into a boy.

_"Bezoars are undigested clumps of matter that accumulate in the Goat's digestive system and is usually made of hair, plant fibre, or similar digestive matter that stays in the gut of the Goat and forms a hard ball, or stone._

_Often, a bezoar can save you from a great number of poisons, but one that it cannot save you from is Basilisk venom. The venom from a Basilisk is so powerful that there has not yet been any findings of a cure, much like many other poisons that are too strong for the bezoar to work properly (See page 6 for a complete list)._

_The teal colored antidote potion also uses a bezoar in it's ingredients. Along with 1 bezoar, the potion asks for 2 measurements of the standard herb ingredient, 1 pinch of unicorn horn, and 2 mistletoe berries. All should be available in your classroom shop._

_The most common types of poisons the antidote works on are bites and stings from various creatures, both magical and non magical alike._

_However, a Doxy bite, is one of the few uncommon poisons that a bezoar wont work for. While the Doxy isn't nearly as lethal as the Basilisk or a Venomous Tentacula, if you are bitten, proper care should be taken immediately. The Doxy's have a double row of venomous teeth and work very quickly. An antidote should be taken as soon as possible to avoid extreme health issues such as; random apparition (most witches and wizards lose limbs during this process), severe bodily boils, vomiting uncontrollably, and in some more severe cases, death (t_ _o see more on Doxy's, please see page 5)._

_The bezoar name comes from the Persian word padzahr, meaning "protection from poison" and is often used in Chinese Herbology to cleanse the body of toxins."_

"Sir?" Said a Slytherin girl with dark, curly hair, "Do Basilisks really exist?"

Snape seemed to check which house she was in by the tie she wore around her neck before answering her question, "While very rare these days, yes, Basilisks do exist. They're mostly dying out due to the fact that they can not be domesticated since their powers are too strong. The venom of the Basilisk can kill you within just one minute of being bitten. Highly dangerous serpents, Basilisks are."

Draco could've sworn he's heard his father talk about one before, but with the excitement of finally being in class, Draco couldn't remember. 

"How did the Basilisks get here though? What could possibly hatch that big of an egg?" The bushy haired girl called out right after Snape had finished.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Hermione Granger, sir."

"10 points from Gryffindor. You may all thank Miss Granger."

 

They didn't get to brew a potion, but Snape did tell them more about Bezoars, like how they were discovered. Ancient wizards were stranded and the only thing they had to live on were Goats and, for some reason, one of them decided to eat the stone found in the Goat's belly. They began noticing how well off the wizard seemed after eating it and told their friends, then their friends told their friends and soon enough, people were testing the bezoars for any sort of magical power they may possess and found it to be a general poison antidote. The exact year is currently unknown. Rushing to his next class, Draco walked with Harry. Apparently, the Slytherins and Gryffindor's had more than one class together...not that Draco was complaining. 

"What do you think of Professor Snape?" Harry asked him on their way to the third floor for History of Magic, books in hand and supplies in their bags.

"He seems smart. I think I like him. He's a little unfair though. I don't think he likes Gryffindor."

"I noticed that, too. Do you think he knows my parents? He talked like he did."

Draco shrugged, "They probably went to school together."

 

The classroom for History of Magic was bigger than the round shaped one they had for Potions. This one was bright with the windows open, letting sunshine and fresh air in with four rows of desks all placed neatly together in two sections; one on each side of the classroom. A chalkboard was at the front and an oak wood desk was placed in front of it where a ghostly looking teacher sat at.

"Is that Professor Binns?" Draco whispered to Harry as they sat down.

"Good morning everyone." The ghostly figure spoke suddenly, as if he had heard Draco, "I would like to welcome you all to History of Magic where you will learn about the history of wizards and the magical world. History is in the making every single day, so who knows, perhaps one day someone will be teaching your children about this very moment. Well..not  _this_ moment, but this particular time frame. Things happen very quickly in life, something drastic could happen tomorrow that gets put in the history books and you'll all get to say you lived through it. Unless, of course, its something like a war and you die."

The look of the students' faces made Binns chuckle, "Im only joking, moving on."

"He seems cheerful." Harry mumbled to Draco.

"Please get out your text books so we may take a look at the most interesting thing you'll learn all year; The International Statue of Secrecy in 1689. Page 4 please."

The rumble of the students echoed through the room as everyone got their heavy books out and opened them up, seeing a bright photo of a muggle with his eyes bulging out of his head as a witch next to him had her wand out, seemingly doing a spell on some firewood beneath the man. 

"Magic wasn't always kept a secret and when it was out in the open as a more common thing muggles knew about, the accused witches and wizards were burned at the stake. Of course, no witches or wizards actually ever died from this. Many either changed their appearance to move away or they simply cast a Flame Freezing Charm and made it so the fire wouldn't hurt them, but merely tickle them. One woman even enjoyed the ticking so much that she changed her appearance often and purposely got caught just so she could set the charm and be tickled," Binns then began reading out loud from the book, " _Upon the signature of the International Statue of Secrecy in 1689, wizards went into hiding for good. It was natural, perhaps, that they formed their own small communities within a community. Many small villages and hamlets attracted several magical families, who banded together for mutual support and protection. The villages of Tinworth in Cornwall, Upper Flagley in Yorkshire, and Ottery St Catchpole on the south coast of England were notable homes for Wizarding families who lived alongside tolerant and sometimes Confunded Muggles. Most celebrated of these half-magical dwelling places is, perhaps, Godric's Hallow, the West Country village where the great wizard Godric Gryffindor was born, and where Bowman Wright, Wizarding smith, forged the first Golden Snitch. The graveyard is full of the names of ancient magical families, and this accounts, no doubt, for the stories of hauntings that have dogged the little church beside it for many centuries._ The book is referring to the same Godric Gryffindor that was among the founders of this very school, in case you were wondering. The ancient wizards of that time needed to be protected against the witch trials still happening all over the world. Many have grown tired of pretending to be burnt at the stake, so the council stepped in and informed all of the Wizarding world that we were to go into hiding."

As Professor Binns continued on with the text book, Harry wrote Draco a note and slipped it over to him. 

_Do you think he knows he's dead? He hasn't said anything_

_Of course he knows he's dead, why wouldn't he know? wouldn't you know if you were dead?_

Harry rolled his eyes at Draco's note back and fumbled around with his quill. Compared to Potions, History of Magic was far less interesting.

 

In no time at all, it was time for lunch. Good thing too, Draco was getting starving as he sat and listened to Professor Binns read the whole time. All they had to do was take down notes and that was about the same as doing nothing at all. He could've just read through his text book again if he needed to know anything, but Binns had required them to take notes anyways.

At the Slytherin table, Draco got out a piece of parchment and his quill and wrote to his parents. He figured they were going mad already without him since he promised to write and hadn't done it yet.

_Dear Mother and Father,_

_I have been placed into Slytherin just like you. Professor McGonagall looked really surprised when the hat barely touched by head and sort me right away. Did that happen to you?_

_The train ride was quiet, but I did make a friend. His name is Harry and he's in Gryffindor, but we have had both of our classes together so far so hopefully there's more. He's nice. You would like him._

_I'll copy down my schedule and send it to you tonight in case you ever need to know my class times. I haven't gotten homework yet, but I still have two more classes to go to, though I think I will have time to write again before bed. Did you know we have Astronomy at midnight once a week? Im not used to staying up that late. Do you think I'll get in trouble for falling asleep?_

_Draco_

_P.S My friend from Slytherin says hi. His name is Blaise._

"Happy now?" Draco shows Blaise the letter after being bombarded with requests to tell his parents hello for him.

"Very much." Blaise nodded and ate some of the pasta in front of him.

Looking around, Draco didn't see any Owls. Maybe Professor McGonagall would send it for him.

 

Lunch was just as delicious as breakfast had been. Instead of muffins and sausages, there were larges bowls of pasta and sauces, mini sandwiches with multiple fillings; chicken, tuna, ham, cheese, peanut butter. There were also slices of pizzas, mince meat pies, soups, and then desserts of cookies and ice cream. His mother never really let him have sweets other than the occasional chocolate frog or ice cream cone from Diagon Alley, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

After some sandwiches, Draco dug into the cookies and ice cream, glad to be at his table instead of the one next to him. He was pretty sure it was Ravenclaw, but their food didn't look very good. Maybe Draco was just biased. 

 

"Professor McGonagall!" Draco shouted to her as they both left the Great Hall at the same time, "I don't have enough time to go find an Owl before Charms, can you send this to my parents for me?"

 

With the weight of an unsent letter off of his shoulders, Draco headed up to the third floor to the Charms corridor, right to the room with the sign that read  _Classroom 2E._

Three rows of desks were neatly placed, all facing the front desk and a pair of two large windows behind it. In the middle of the two windows was a high seat that had an even higher backside. Professor Flitwick, Draco learned when he saw the man, was very tiny with a long beard. It explained the big chair.

Unfortunately, he didn't have Charms with Harry. He was with the Hufflepuffs instead and Draco didn't really like any of them. They were acting like his house was infected with some kind of disease.

"Does everyone have a copy of  _The Standard Book of Spells: grade 1?_ Good. My name is Professor Flitwick and I'll be your Charms teacher until your 5th year. That's how long you'll be required to sit in this classroom with me. Until then, I think you all will learn some fairly exciting charms. I've already got one planned for today so please make sure everyone pays close attention. Other than the one we will be learning today, a few you will be learning over the course of this year as follows; a wand lighting charm, a softening charm, severing charm, fire-making spell, unlocking charm, and a charm to lock doors. There are many more, but I just wanted to name a few to help get you all excited for this year."

Professor Flitwick moved to a box and opened it up, showing everyone a feather. "We will be levitating these today. Does anyone know what the Levitation Charm is?"

Draco raised his hand, hearing Blaise chuckle next to him.

"Ah, young man in the back. What's your name?"

_Young man in the back._

"Draco Malfoy, sir. Isn't the incantation for the Levitating Charm, Wingardium Leviosa _?_ " Draco asked with a giddy feeling inside. Twice now he has been called boy and it was like every time he was, a fire was lit inside of him and couldn't be put out.

_Young man._

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy! That's the exact incantation, well done. Five points to Slytherin. I'm going to pass these feathers around and you're going to try to make them levitate in the air." With a flick of his wand, Flitwick made the feathers fly delicately over the students, one landing in front of each of them perfectly.

"Repeat after me," Flitwick cleared his throat and spoke very clearly and carefully, "Wingardium Leviosa."

Mumbles starting and stopping at different times came from the students repeating the incantation, but Flitwick wasn't impressed. 

"Try to speak up a bit louder and enunciate as best as you can, please." 

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The class spoke at once, all together this time.

"Well done! Now use this wand rotation," Flitwick moved his wrist to make his wand move in a sort of upwards zig zag, "while pointing at the feather while you say the incantation. I don't think anyone will get it on the first try, but just concentrate and do your best."

Draco did the spell and movement while pointing at the feather on his desk multiple times, but he just couldn't concentrate hard enough. His head was fluttering like his stomach was because Flitwick had addressed him as a boy. He knew Professor McGonagall said she would take care of it, but he had no idea that the other professors would listen to her. He didn't even think about whether or not they would, somehow he just trusted her to help.

And she did.

"Wingardium Leviosa." Draco heard Blaise recite and saw nothing happened to him either.

"I cant get this stupid spell to work! How hard can it be to make something float?" Blaise complained, making Draco laugh quietly so they didn't get in trouble.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can't get it either."

They both exchanged looks of annoyance before going back to work.

It was another 15 minutes before anyone got it to work. It was a boy from Hufflepuff with hair blonder than his own that Draco didn't know yet. His feather floated higher and higher as he kept the spell going, soon floating all the way to the top of the ceiling before Flitwick waved his wand and made the feather fall back to the desk quicker than it normally would've.

"For your homework tonight, I want you to research the spell and tell me everything you find out. I'm not asking for specifics, I just want to know what you find out on your own and what you think is interesting about it. Also, please practice the spell as well. We're going to be continuing next class."

"What should we use as the feathers?" someone asked throughout the hushed whispers of conversation.

"Your quills will work fine. But, if you are worried about accidentally messing up your quill, you may use a plank piece of parchment. It's about the same weight as a feather would be." As Flitwick spoke, he moved across the room and waved his wand. Within seconds, everyone's feathers were being placed back into the box. "Be sure to remember what I said about concentrating. That, and determination are key to every successful spell. Imagine your object rising as you do it tonight, visualize it lifting from the table or bed, wherever you choose, and perhaps that will help you if you find yourself still unable to. Not to worry if you still can't, many great wizards have had difficulty with spell work during their first days of practicing magic. It will take time, but I assure you that each of you will get it."

 

On his way up to the North Tower for his next class, Draco got lost. He was so sure that was going the right way, but once he realized he had no idea where he was, he stopped abruptly. There weren't any teachers around either, nor were there any students. Seemed to be some sort of deserted corridor. A knight stood in a corner of the corridor by a small window, then a tapestry was hung on the other side. 

"Great." Draco mumbled to himself, walking past the knight. A cool breeze washed over him as he passed by it, causing Draco to look around for the source, but was unable to find anything. It was probably just his mind playing tricks on him since he was lost. 

Just then, Draco felt it again and heard a loud SCREEEEEEECH! Draco whipped his body around and came face to face with a ghost. Only this ghost looked different from the four house ghosts he saw roaming around the Great Hall. He looked more solid than they did, but definitely not alive.

"My, my! A firsty skipping class? How unusual!" the ghost cried out, looking happy to see Draco.

"I'm not skipping! I got lost!" Draco defended himself, annoyed by the ghost already and they haven't even engaged in proper conversation yet. 

The ghost then knocked over the knight and glided around the corner singing a song about Draco skipping.

 

_"Firsty suspended!_

_Firsty expelled!_

_Firsty skipping class!_

_Weeeee!"_

 

Draco was about to shout over the singing to tell him to stop, but he heard a voice come up from behind him. 

"Mr. Malfoy, may I walk you to class?" 

Dumbledore.

Draco turned around and, for a moment, was expecting to get blamed for the knight being knocked over to the ground, pieces of the armor scattered around across the hallway, but Dumbledore remained with a smile on his face.

Nodding with a smile back, Draco followed Dumbledore down to another hall.

"Don't worry about the knight being on the ground. Peeves is always causing a ruckus around the school. I assume you didn't like him very much? Not many students do. Certainly not Mr. Filch or Professor Snape. However, I find him to be quite amusing."

"The ghosts name is Peeves? Is it because he makes people angry?"

"Peeves is not a ghost, but a poltergeist. But I assume that's where the name came from. Nobody really knows how Peeves got here. Ever since the school was built he's been here, wreaking havoc on the staff, students, and school itself. He quite literally came with the school, no use in trying to get rid of him like many want."

Dumbledore continued to tell him all about how Peeves will sometimes bust the pipes in the bathrooms, leaving them closed for days at a time, or how he even destroyed the library once. Books had flown all over the place and it took a month to get them all in order again because every time they would fix the room up with magic, Peeves would do it again.

"He finds causing trouble to be particularly funny. When it gets too much, we have the Baron straighten him out."

"The Slytherin ghost?"

"Afraid so. The Bloody Baron is the only person, or ghost I should say, that Peeves will listen to."

"He won't even listen to you?"

Dumbledore chuckled, "Well, yes, but I'm quite entertained by him. I let the Bloody Baron handle him."

After a moment's silence, Draco stopped and looked up at the headmaster, "Can I ask you something?"

"I believe you just did, but you may ask me another question, yes."

Draco looked around the hall to make sure the coast was clear, not wanting anyone else to hear him.

"Do you have to tell my parents that you call me a boy here? They don't take me seriously when I tell them to call me Draco and not...you know. I just don't want you to get in trouble for helping me."

Dumbledore gave Draco a curious look and brought him over to the side of the hall to sit on a concrete bench.

"I don't have to tell your parents anything, Draco. I believe that it's everyone's right to be honest with who they are, nobody else gets a say or an opinion when it comes to being true to yourself. If you are confident that you are, indeed, Draco then that's good enough for me and all of your professors. You aren't the first transgender student at Hogwarts, Draco, and you won't be the last. I wanted to talk to you this weekend about it, but I suppose now will do. There's some books in my office I'd be happy to let you read. I keep them there for the next student that comes along with the same feeling as you. Although there are many transgender wizards, there isn't much of an acceptance rate in the wizarding world. Granted it is higher than with muggles and you will not be killed for it, I believe many wizards just don't understand yet. In time there will be complete acceptance, I am sure of it. As long as you accept yourself though, I think that's the most important thing."

Dumbledore was wise. Draco hadn't even considered the fact that there may be other transgender students at the school, but he was eager to find them and talk to them about it. Funnily enough, Dumbledore seemed to have guessed this.

"I can not tell you who else is here, as that is for them to decide, but you are never alone, Draco. No matter how it may feel or seem, there's always someone going through the same thing as you. As for right now, you should get to class. I believe you are looking for the North Tower, yes? The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom is just up those stairs." Dumbledore pointed to the stairs at the end of the corridor. 

 

Draco eventually found the classroom and was only 5 minutes late, but thankfully their Professor was late too. He was walking in at the same time as Draco was. 

"Ah, Draco, please take a seat." Professor Black smiled and walked right past him to the front of the classroom by the stairs leading up into an office.

"I'd like to take a minute and tell everyone that has no idea what they're doing in this class to not feel alone because this is my first year here as well and I have no idea either. I was working at a bakery down in Diagon Alley before here and as far as I can tell, none of you are deliciously moist muffins that I can sink my teeth into on the clock."

This made everyone laugh, including Harry and Draco who were seated together. 

"Your uncle, right?" 

"Yeah." Harry nods, a little blush going on his face.

"This year Im supposed to be teaching you how to duel, basic defensive spells, magical theory, stuff about dark creatures, and dark curses. Well not exactly curses yet, but jinxes like the knock back. It's a spell you can do to knock your opponent over, causing them to be unable to get back up until you lower your wand. Can be fun, but only if you aren't caught. Apparently it's rude to do on fellow classmates at school."

Professor Black went on to talk about his time at Hogwarts and how much trouble he always got in for being a little shit (he also asked them politely not to tell anyone he said shit), then began to go into detail about the detentions McGonagall would give him almost daily.

"This is why you learn about Defensive spells, to protect yourself from people like me who might've teased you in school. At least, this year and next year anyway. You won't really begin preparing for larger threats until your third or fourth year."

"Larger threats?" Hermione Granger questioned out loud, raising her hand at the same time, "Do you think there will be another Dark Lord like before?"

Professor Black's face seemed to grow a look of worry on it at the question, but quickly disguised it as a laugh.

"Nonsense. Voldemort was defeated a long time ago, back when I was at school. It was way before he ever could've gotten really bad. Thankfully, he and his followers were taken and arrested immediately. They will be in Azkaban longer than they could ever imagine. They won't be getting out, Miss..?"

"Granger, sir. But what if another person tries to be like him? Shouldn't we learn curses to defend ourselves in case it happens?

"There are other ways of defending yourself, Miss Granger. Im not legally allowed to teach you those curses yet. However, I'm sure many of you already know of three curses. The ones that are unforgivable and will send you straight to Azkaban at the first use, no questions asked."

"What's the harm in teaching first years curses, anyway? We're not going to do anything." Theo Nott asked from the back of the class.

"You'd be surprised at what students do. Back during the founders' time, a male student fell in love with a female student and killed her because she didn't feel the same way. He then felt so guilty that he killed himself too. Didn't even use a curse to do it, he used a knife from the kitchen. It's one of the reasons why Hogwarts doesn't have silverware in the kitchens anymore and the Elves cook the food for everyone. Try to take one out of the Great Hall and it will will evaporate as soon as it hits the ground floor outside of the doors. In fact, you see the man responsible for this every day. The Bloody Baron is one hell of a ghost. Anyway, moving on..." Professor Black went to his desk and grabbed a book off of it. "Please open your text book  _'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection'_ to page 35. We're going to be discussing the Curse of the Bogies today. While it is both entertaining and informational, I'd like to remind each of you that we won't be practicing curses on each other in this class, so before anyone gets any ideas, please remember that."

Sitting on the edge of his desk, Professor Black began to read out to the class about the cold curse. His black robes hung flatteringly down his sides while his dark haired mustache was being stroked by his free hand. The light skinned man was very good looking, but Draco decided it would be best to keep that to himself. One, because he was their teacher, but also because that was Harry's uncle. 

_"The curse of the Bogies, or Curse of Bogies, gives the recipient a strong cold that can make him or her collapse if not treated by the counter curse or by drinking Pepper-up potion. The incantation, Mucus ad Nauseam (MUCUS ahd NOU-see-um), is a level one spell; meaning it is very easy to perform successfully, which makes the Curse of Bogies a very common curse used among students of magical schools._

So commonly used that I specifically remember using it on Professor Snape in school more than once. If he asks though, it was all James Potter's doing." Professor Black commented after, giving Harry a grin.

"The counter curse also cures other colds, but will take longer for them to go away unlike the Bogies Curse where the spell works immediately. 

Invented in 1838 by a teenage witch who was trying to get out of an exam, which I'm sure had been done many times until the Pepper-up Potion came into play during the late 18th century. Hero to all magical teens, wasn't she?"

 

Professor Black ended up giving them homework of copying down all of the spells in the first section of the first chapter in their  _Guide to Protection_ book along with their incantations, what they were used for, and what their counter curse was. 

"Professor Black is so cool!"

"Best teacher so far."

"I hope we have Defence classes a lot."

"Did you  _see_ his hair? The man is too beautiful to be a teacher."

Draco and Harry laughed at the comments as they hurried out of their last class of the day, truly mesmerized by Professor Black like everyone else was.

"How weird that he's your uncle. I never would've guessed you were related to him."

"I'm not  _actually_ related to him. He and my dad are just best friends so I've always had him in my life. I don't even remember calling him Uncle Sirius for the first time, its just always been that way."

"Oh, I thought you meant-"

"Boys, wait up!" Professor Black's voice called out to them, making both first years turn around.

"How was I? Should I tone it down a notch? Was I weird? I don't remember what was cool in school, but-"

"Uncle Sirius, you were fine. Draco really liked your class and so did everyone else. Me and him were just talking about it, actually."

Sirius gave Draco a little look before turning back to Harry, "You think so? I just remember what it was like having horrible teachers and don't want to be that way with you guys. Having a shitty teacher really will disturb your marks."

Harry and Draco both laughed at that, "Maybe just stop the swearing and then you'll be good. I don't think Professor Dumbledore would like that very much."

 

Now that he was done with class for the day, Draco decided to go start on his homework in the library. It was quiet, but full of about 12 or so students with the same idea. Harry wasn't there with him because he had told him that he already had homework plans with another Gryffindor, but that they could hang out after dinner. Which was completely fine, really, Draco was just a bit upset because Harry was already the best friend he's ever had. He's never really felt like he's fit in anywhere, but every time he's with Harry he feels like he's going to be okay in life. That one day everything will change and Draco could finally be happy with himself and his parents would be happy for him and understand, but when he gets alone, Draco seems to remember that won't happen. Ever since the train ride yesterday, Draco has felt the loneliness he had grown too accustomed to at home slowly disappear. Maybe he was just clinging onto the first person he's ever felt normal around, but Draco didn't like feeling so dependent on Harry. He was afraid that if Harry found out that he wouldn't speak to Draco anymore. 

 

The Charms homework was the first thing Draco started on. He used a feather from a jar in the library and started practicing Wingardium Leviosa, but still couldn't manange it. Though, only 20 tries later and complete fits of frustration, Draco finally got it. He was sitting at one of the tables watching the feather float above his head as if a string were pulling it from the ceiling. It was a weird feeling to have finally done magic with a wand and actually succeed at it. As the feather flew even higher, Draco lost his concentration when someone sat down with him, causing the feather to drop down when his wand broke contact. 

"Hey, you finally got it! Didn't think many people would be in here so I came to try and work on it, but I see you've already got it. The common room is too loud." 

Blaise had got out his things and opened up a text book, wanting to do the written portion first.

"Professor Black seems like he's going to be everyone's favorite teacher." he continued as Draco got his own books out, thinking he would do the same as Blaise.

"He's already mine. Seriously, did you hear him say he cast the Bogie Curse on Snape? I like Snape kinda, but that's the funniest thing I've ever heard." Draco grins, flipping his Charms book open to Chapter 8 and began reading and copying down (in his own words, of course) everything that he found out about the spell.

_"Wingardium Leviosa was created in 1544 by Jarleth Hobart, a warlock who mistakenly believed that he had succeeded in doing what wizardkind had so far failed to do, flying. 16 July 1544, Hobart invited a group of wizards, including the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, to witness his demonstration of flying. He used the charm on himself and after climbing up onto a roof of a church and jumped, hovering in the air. At first, he seemed to have succeeded, but after time, the wizards realized he was merely floating in the air and didn't actually invent a charm to make yourself fly. He ended up taking his clothes off, thinking they were making him too heavy, but fell to the ground instead. His clothes had been charmed, not himself. He was naked with 16 broken bones and received a fine for "outrageous silliness" from the Chief. After returning home, Hobart realized that he had been able to create a charm that made objects levitate and held another meeting in front of a group of wizards and demonstrated his creation, leaving them very impressed._

_Despite being a powerful levitation charm that is able to defy gravity by levitating heavy objects, the one thing it won't levitate is human beings. Though a human can be levitated with the charm, it is their clothes being affected and not themselves._

_Wingardium is a composite word based on the English word 'wing', meaning 'to fly', 'arduus' or 'arduum', meaning 'steep place', and the Latin ending '-ium'. Leviosa derives from the Latin word 'levo', meaning 'to rise' and 'levis', meaning 'light weight'. Together, the incantation would be best read as 'lift up high'._

_The charm is so simple, that it creates no lighting._

_One interesting fact I found: There is a Wizard rock band named after the incantation from the United States."_

 

With his Charms homework completed, Draco pulled out his Defence text book excitedly. Although he hasn't been to every class yet and can't accurately state his favorite one just yet, he had a feeling it would be Professor Black's class. The amount of spells that were in the first section was a smaller number than Draco was expecting. He assumed there would be at least two rolls of parchment alone of them, but it turned out to be just a half a roll. Their descriptions, counter curses, and incantations were easy to fit all on the same roll and Draco was done in no time. Within that hour and a half that he was in the library, the rest of the students had left, making it just him and Blaise alone with the librarian, who had a name tag that read 'Pince' on her robes. His eyes scanned the room curiously, seeing the rows and rows of books on very tall book shelves. He wouldn't be able to count how many books were residing in the library, but he knew that he wanted to read them all. He wanted to find out everything there was to know about the Wizarding World and all of the information he needed was right in front of him. The most interesting thing though, was a rope with a sign that read 'Restricted Section; keep out' and behind that were hundreds and hundreds of more books. Draco had a feeling that those books had Dark Magic in the pages.

At dinner later that night, Draco received a letter from his parents when an Owl came swooshing down at the Slytherin table, dropping the letter in his food, then sat beside him. He pushed the plate back, not wanting to eat it anymore, then opened it up.

 

_Cassiopeia,_

_Would you not sign your letters with the name Draco, please? It upsets your mother and I just really don't understanding why you're still doing this to us._

_But, I'm glad to hear about your first day. I hope the rest of it went well. Your friend Harry sounds nice and so does your friend Blaise. Though Im a little worried about that Harry boy. He's in Gryffindor you said, yes? I would prefer if you made friends within your own house, but I suppose for the time being you may hang out with this Gryffindor. Be careful of him. When I was at school, the Gryffindors were pains in the ass and wouldn't hesitate to hex the Slytherins. Keep an eye out for him._

_The sorting had did the same to me, don't worry, Cassi. Another change of time for Astronomy? When I was in school we had it at 9 pm. You could see the stars just fine, but I suppose midnight makes sense. You'll be fine, darling._

_Your mother says hello. We love you._

_Have a good night,_

_Father_

 

Draco clenched his fists as he read the letter. His father hadn't even bothered with the name Draco...not that he expected him to, but Draco had a tiny glimmer of hope that they would if they saw he was still using it at school. His insides felt like they were all jumbled up and they hurt. They were never going to accept him or understand.

 

" _Im sorry. Goodnight._ " Was all Draco wrote back to them, along with attaching a copy of his time table, then let the Owl take it back.

 

The Owl, Gizmo, his parents got him was a brown and silver one; brown covered most of her body, but her stomach was silver. Gizmo took the letter and flew off quickly after Draco fed her a little bit of the casserole he had been eating.

"Are you okay? You look upset. Bad news?" Some girl asked him, making Draco look up from the table.

She looked a bit like one of those Pug dogs and had slightly frizzy hair, but Draco didn't have the nerve to tell her.

"No, I'm just full. I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight."

He got up from the table and made his way out of the Great Hall, figuring he could just talk to Harry tomorrow and apologize since they had plans.

On the way to the dungeons, Draco stopped in the bathrooms and locked himself in a stall. The tears that came flooding out had been held in for a long time. Draco tried not to cry about his parents for so long, but it was as if the letter made him snap. He couldn't stop crying. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest with every sob, knees curled up to his chest, and his back pressed against the stall door. Why couldn't he just be normal? Why did his parents have to be the way they were? He would give anything for one of those to change.

If there was ever a time when Draco felt truly alone, it was now.

Breakfast the next morning passed by quickly as the spice scent in the air woke Draco up, prepared for another day of school. He would be going to his Herbology class and Transfiguration class today and as sad as Draco was still, he knew he needed to forget about it until tonight so he could focus on his work.

Defence was his first class, but Harry didn't wait for him outside of the Great Hall to go to class together.

When he got into class, Draco sat beside Harry and noticed Harry look the other way.

"I'm sorry about last night. I know we were going to hang out, but something came up. My parents wrote to me and..."

Draco couldn't think of what to say. He obviously wasn't going to tell the truth, but he needed an excuse. He couldn't tell Harry that his parents refuse to call him Draco because his 'real' name is Cassiopeia so he went and cried in the bathroom for two hours.

"And my mother is sick." he eventually said, pretending to look sad.

Harry's head zipped over and he frowned, "Oh. I'm sorry, Draco. Is she okay?"

"Oh, yes. She just has a disease that sometimes makes her really sick. I don't know what it is, but she just randomly gets sick sometimes. She's okay though, I just wanted to write to her before bed so I didn't hang out with you. I should've told you though. I'm sorry."

Harry shook his head, bewildered that Draco had apologized. "No, don't say sorry. She's your mom, its okay. I shouldn't have assumed you blew me off for no reason. I'm sorry."

Draco felt horrible for lying, but it was better than the truth. He just gave a tight lipped smile and looked up at the board where Professor Black was writing on it.

"What are your parents like?" Draco asks Harry, turning his body to face his friend.

"Oh, they're the best. My mum makes these brownies from scratch, said it was a family recipe and they're really good. I'll bring you some back after Christmas so you can try them. Or I can have her send us some with the post? I think the post is better, they would be fresher. My dad is really cool too. He and my Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus always tell me stories about their childhood and their life at Hogwarts when they were here. My dad has this invisibility cloak and map of the school, but he won't let me have it yet. Said I should wait until my third year before I can have them so I don't go around getting into trouble like he did."

"An invisibility cloak and a map? What a strange pairing." Draco commented, wondering what his on father had that he planned on giving to Draco when he got older.

"He says that the map shows Hogwarts and everyone in it," Harry said, lowering his voice and leaning close to Draco, "But I don't think it does. That's impossible. Even says he made it with Uncle Srius and Remus, but again, impossible." Draco's eyes widened a bit as he tried to imagine such a map. Would it show him as Draco, or Cassiopeia?

He really hoped it wasn't real.

 

Professor Black called on a few students to share their homework with the class, reading the spell name and the description, then letting the entire class say the incantation together. "Those will be the spells you'll be working on until October. One spell a week until then." they worked more with the Bogies Curse during class then talked about Hags for a little bit at the end. His next class was Herbology and he didn't have it with Harry, but with the Ravenclaws.

"I'll see you at lunch. Maybe we can eat fast and go out to the courtyard to hang out." Harry suggested before running off to Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs.

Herbology was held in the Green Houses behind the castle. They were filled top to bottom with loads of plants, but a table long enough for the Slytherins and Ravenclaws to join together at sat right in the middle of the small building.

"Welcome to Herbology, everyone! Im Professor Sprout and I'm also the Hufflepuff head of house, if any of you didn't know that." Said the round, happy professor with rosy cheeks. "We're going to be hands on today so everyone please get out your dragon hide gloves - Thank you. Now, we're going to be re-planting an herb-like flower called Moly. Can anyone tell me what that is or what it's used for?"

A blonde haired girl from Ravenclaw put her hand up almost immediately.

"Yes, and your name is?"

"Luna Lovegood, Professor. The Moly herb acts as a protection against dark enchantments and is also a potions ingredient. If you want to use it as protection, just eat it and it will counteract the enchantment. They are very distinctive flowers and are used most commonly for the Wiggenweld potion."

"Excellent," Professor Sprout clapped happily, "10 points to Ravenclaw. Miss Lovegood is correct. Moly is very distinctive with its black stems and white flower bud. Fun fact about Moly, it was in a Muggle Greek tale of the Odyssey where it was used to help resist a witch-goddess' dark magic. Now, everyone look in font of you where I have laid out the Moly's in their original pots, please. The empty pots are just below the table so please, if you would grab one of those - yes, now we will fill it up just a few inches high of soil then place the flower inside of the pot and add the rest. Make sure you have your gloves on and be careful not to allow the stem to bend."

The students shuffled to place their gloves on and to place the correct amount of soil into the new pot. Professor Sprout walked around, checking everyone's progress and casually giving out quiet compliments to those who were doing a good job, Draco included, and watched carefully as everyone was now re-potting the flower."Yes, excellent everyone. Be sure to carefully remove the excess soil from the old pot, we want to try and use as little old soil as possible. Moly's thrive in fresh soil, which is why they must be re-potted every week. Does anyone know why?"

Draco raised his hand this time, telling his name with it when she asked for it like with the Lovegood girl from Ravenclaw.

"Draco Malfoy, ma'am. Is it because they lose their strength when being used as protection against dark enchantments?"

He could tell that she knew he was guessing, but she didn't seem to mind. "Yes, that's exactly correct. 10 points to Slytherin for that wonderfully educated guess, Mr. Malfoy." She gave him a smile and continued on watching everyone. "So its crucial to make sure the plants are always well taken care of in case someone needs to eat one and be protected. Also because Professor Snape wouldn't be too happy if his potions ingredients went bad."

Draco had been a little iffy on whether or not he would like Herbology, but it turns out that he really, really liked the class and Professor Sprout both. She had told the students before they left that if any of them ever needed anything or needed to talk to someone that they could come to her even if they weren't from her house. She really was a lovely woman and Draco could see why she was seemingly well liked. When he saw her in the hall yesterday, he hadn't realized who she was then, but he noticed the way loads of people were saying hello to her and giving her a hug.

 

Lunch went by quickly for the simple fact that Draco and Harry both ate very quickly and then left the Great Hall to go outside in the courtyard. They sat under a tree as Harry pulled out some mincemeat pies he stuck in his pockets.

"I brought one for both of us. I figured we could eat outside, but I didn't know if we were allowed to."

Draco grinned at Harry and took the second pie, immediately taking a bite. "Have you had the treacle tart yet? Its my favorite." Harry asks him, shoving some into his own mouth after.

"Yeah, mother makes some at the holidays so I've had it before, but I haven't tried the one here yet. I haven't seen any at my table. Bring some out the next time we sit out here."

Just then, a swoop of black robes came rushing out of the doors and standing right in front of the two boys. Draco didn't have to look up to know who it was.

"Well, well." the voice began, deep and full of hate, "Seems like Potter has a hard time knowing where to go, wouldn't you agree, Mr. Malfoy? First he's late to my class and now he doesn't know where lunch is eaten at. If I must say so myself, I think you should go check in with Madam Pomfrey, Potter. You seem to have a bit of a-"

Harry never got to know what he had a bit of because right as Snape was getting meaner, Professor Black showed up and stood right beside Snape. "Ah, Severus. Bullying children, are we?"

"Black, don't make me go to Dumbledore and report you for favoring Mr. Potter here. He is out of bounds, lunch is to be held in the Great Hall."

"So Im aware. But, you seem to be forgetting someone. Mr. Malfoy isn't in there either. Why isn't he in trouble?" Professor Black then got a mischievous smirk on his face, "Are you punishing Harry for his father and I when we were in school? That's unfair, even for you, Severus."

"I never thought I would have to see another Potter and Black in school again with me, but I suppose you two have enjoyed ruining that for me."

Professor Black ignored Snape and looked over to Harry and Draco, obviously holding in a laugh. "Get inside, both of you. Lunch is almost over."

Draco and Harry walked back inside with their things, half of the mincemeat pies hanging out of their mouths, both wondering what exactly just happened.

"Snape seems to really hate you, Harry. Maybe you should report it? He isn't being very fair." Draco said softly to Harry as they waited by the Great Hall doors for lunch to be over.

"It's alright. I can handle Snape and so can Sirius. Do you want to sit by me again in History of Magic? We can talk in notes again if Binns is really boring like he was yesterday."

"Why would you even ask me that? Of course we're sitting together."

 

Harry had been right. Professor Binns was just as boring as he was the day before. All he did was read from the textbook as everyone copied down key parts of what was being read off beside their notes from the day before. With their _A History of Magic_ books opened up in front of them, Draco and Harry passed written notes to each other.

_who even cares if the goblins rioted a lot? i dont_

_harry, a lot of people care. i think its interesting, but i dont want to hear him read out of a text book all day_

_yeah yeah. do u think he knows hes dead???_

_you asked me that yesterday._

 

"Make sure you copy this next part down, everyone." Professor Binns' voice said out into the classroom, making both Harry and Draco look up from their notes and begin to write what Binns was saying.

 _"Little could be heard over the squawking of the Diricawls, the moaning of the Augureys, and the relentless, piercing song of the Fwoopers. As witches and wizards attempted to consult the papers before them, sundry pixies and fairies whirled around their heads, giggling and jabbering. A dozen or so trolls began to smash apart the chamber with their clubs, while hags glided about the place in search of children to eat. The Council Chief stood up to open the meeting, slipped on a pile of Porlock dung and ran, cursing from the hall._ That is Bathilda Bagshot describing a meeting of the Wizards' council with representatives of all beings, which then was defined as every creature who walked on two legs. That was in the 14th century though and the meaning of the term 'beings' has been changed. Now, all beings are creatures that have sufficient intelligence to understand and to bear part of the responsibility in helping shape laws, with the exception of ghosts. They have asserted that it is insensitive to be considered beings and are now considered has-beens. Three individual divisions for the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures were created; the Beast division, with centaurs, werewolves, Acromantulas, and Manticores; the Being division, with merpeople, hags, and vampires; and the Spirit division with the ghosts."

"Sir, what are Diricawls, Augurey's, and Fwoopers?" The red haired boy that Harry sits with at lunch at had asked Professor Binns, startling him a bit.

"Ah, yes. The Diricawls are plump, fluffy-feathered and flightless birds that have the ability to disappear and reappear elsewhere in case of danger. Augurey's are grenish-black birds who are very thin. They are known as the Irish Phoenix. Their feathers repel ink, which is why we don't use their feathers for Quills. Fwoopers are magical African birds that have bright colored feathers. Often times are orange, pink, lime green, and yellow. Listening to its song will drive the listener insane so each bird is sold with a Silencing Charm placed on it, but must be reinforced monthly. But unlike the other two birds, Fwooper feathers are used as Quills."

 

His last class of the day was Transfiguraton with the Ravenclaws. The Lovegood girl, according to Blaise, was really cute. So, now sitting all by himself in the front row of the Transfiguration classroom, Draco was annoyed. For a moment he thought the girl from Dinner last night was going to sit with him, but she didn't.

McGonagall stood at the front of the classroom and looked out upon her students, "Please get out your textbook and turn to page 1."

Draco opened up his copy of _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ and flipped to the correct page, seeing it was an information page on Transfiguration.

"Who would like to volunteer to read the information section?"

Looking around at nobody raising their hand, Draco raised his up. At least he would be on McGonagall's good side and maybe earn points for Slytherin by being the only one.

She nodded him on instantly.

_"Transfiguration teaches the art of changing the form and appearance of an object. There are 6 branches of the transfiguration art; Animagus, Cross-Species, Conjuration, Human Transfiguration, general Transfiguration, and Untransfiguration._

_Animagus is a witch or wizard who can morph him or herself into an animal at will._

_Cross-Species Transfiguration is also known as Trans-Species Transfiguration and is where one organism is transformed into something of a different species. For example, transfiguring a human into a duck or a fish._

_Conjuration is an advanced form of Transfiguration. They are distinguished from other branches of Transfiguration by being able to transfigure the desired object out of thin air._

_Human Transfiguration is another difficult branch of Transfiguration where one can transfigure human body parts or an entire human being into another form._

_Transfiguration is the general branch that focuses on the alteration of the form or appearance of the object. Alterations take place in the objects molecular structure._

_Untransfiguration is a branch of Transfiguration magic and a type of counter-spell and is the exact opposite of Transfiguration. It returns something to its proper form, reversing the effects of a transfiguration."_

"Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. 5 points to Slytherin. Now, the only ones that we will be working with this year are general Transfiguration and Untransfiguration. Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She strolled over to a book on a shelf by the her desk and flipped through it, looking through for a specific page.

"Now please turn to page 17. We will be starting with the alphabet. In Transfiguration, will be using the Transfiguration formula to determine that the object we will be transfiguring is properly transfigured. The Transfiguration formula is body weight, viciousness, wand power, and concentration. You take the body weight of the witch or wizard and add the level of viciousness on a scale of 1-5. I have a list for each of you, don't worry about that. Then with the sum you multiply the amount of wand power your wand is giving off. There's a way of testing the power it gives off, which you will learn more about. Say the sum of the body weight and viciousness is 84 and the wand power is 6. You would take the sum of that, in this case is 70, and before you transfigure an object, you will picture the number 70 in your minds."

"Why do you have to picture a number to transfigure, Professor?" Blaise, for the first time, spoke up.

"It is unknown as to why, but if you try to transfigure without it, it will do more harm than good. I assure each of you that it is in your best interest to not attempt at transfiguring an object until you succeed at the Transfiguration formula."

 

Turns out that Professor McGonagall didn't mean the normal alphabet. The Transfiguration alphabet was completely different than the ABC's. It consisted of curious little markings that looked like they were Latin, but Draco wasn't sure. For every letter in the normal alphabet, McGonagall taught them the Transfiguration symbol. She told them that they needed to know this version of the alphabet for their end of year exams and for a particular part of Transfiguration they would be studying this year.

Now that he didn't have anymore classes, Draco went out to the tree where he and Harry sat under earlier until they were bombarded by Snape and got out his homework. It was mostly just studying spells for Denfence, then reading chapter one for Herbology and History of Magic, then practicing the Transfiguration alphabet. His parents didn't write to him today, and surprisingly, Draco was okay with that.

Harry came out to the courtyard about 15 minutes later with the red headed boy, smiling when he was Draco.

"I figured you were out here when I checked the library and your common room said you weren't there. This is Ron, he's in my house. Ron, this is Draco. He's in Slytherin."

Draco smiled at Ron and scooted over so they could all three fit under the tree.

"Do you have any homework?" Draco asks them, pulling his parchment and book into his lap. "I've got some studying mainly."

"No, but I have to study too. Did you do the alphabet with McGonagall today? You had her, didn't you?" Harry asked, opening up his Herbology book.

"Yeah. It's really confusing, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Ron and I were doing that last night and we had to ask Hermione for help. She didn't want to at first, but when I told her I would buy her Chocolate Frogs on the train when we go home for Christmas, she agreed. A good Chocolate Frog can always help."

"You're going home for Christmas?" Draco then asked, not even realizing that he would be all alone for Christmas. There's no way he wanted to go home and be forced to wear the usual Christmas attire that the Malfoy family wore every year. But then again...did he really want to have his house mates see his gifts that were bound to be girly? 

Maybe he would have to.

"Aren't you going home, too?" Ron spoke up, not even bothering to open up his text books to study.

"I wasn't sure, but I suppose I'll have to. I mean, I doubt mother and father will want me to stay here at Hogwarts over the holidays."

 

On Wednesday, Draco didn't see Harry until after lunch in History of Magic. Professor Binns was reading out of the book once again as the two boys copied down notes. 

"I'm excited for Astronomy tonight. My dad says we use telescopes and look up at the stars with a star chart. The Astronomy tower is supposed to over look the Forbidden Forest so maybe we can see inside of it too since we aren't allowed to go inside." Harry whispered to him.

Now that Draco, Harry, and Ron hung out yesterday after last class, they had decided to sit together in all of their classes. Ron was really nice and Draco found that they had a lot in common.

Ron had a lot of siblings unlike Draco, though. Percy, who was a 5th year prefect; George and Fred, who were 3rd years and twins; Bill, who was 10 years older than Ron and worked as a Curse Breaker for Gringotts; Charlie, who was 8 years older and worked with Dragons in Romania as a Dragonologist (which Draco thought was really cool); and Ginny, who would be starting Hogwarts next year. Draco also learned that his father worked at Ministry like his own father did. Though they were in different departments. Ron's father worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, which is a division of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Whereas, Draco's father works in the Beast Division for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

"Even if we  _can't_ see inside of the forest, there's no way I'm ever going in there. While your dad was telling you about Astronomy, mine was telling me about the creatures in the forest. There's werewolves and centaurs in there. Werewolves are dangerous and centaurs hate humans most of the time. Why would  _anyone_ want to go in there?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry, thinking he was insane for even wanting to see inside of the forest. Draco wasn't about to put himself in a situation like that. No wonder Harry was in Gryffindor. Though, Draco suspects, that Gryffindors confused bravery with recklessness. Harry gave a little stiff look at Draco and was so obviously uncomfortable with something Draco said.

"Do you disagree?" Draco asks, noticing the change in the air.

"No..I just- I just think that sometimes impressions are wrong and not all werewolves are bad, just like not all centaurs hate us." Harry shrugs, turning back to his book to end the conversation.

Draco stared at Harry for a moment before slowly turning back to his own text book. What just happened?

After finishing up History of Magic and Charms right after, Draco made sure to finish up his homework before dinner. 

Sitting in the cold Slytherin common room by the fire, Draco got lost in looking up at the window where he could see into the Black Lake. The Slytherin common room was different than the others houses' for many reasons, but the biggest was the fact that they had the Lake. It was deep down in the dungeons and below the water level so they didn't actually have any windows that could open unless they went up into their dormitories, which still overlooked the Lake. Colors of green and silver filled the common room; throw pills, blankets, a Slytherin tapestry hung on the wall, the Slytherin crest by the portrait, and a large framed information parchment by the crest that read the rules of the Slytherin common room and also the history of the house itself. 

He didn't see Harry until dinner, where Harry was waiting for him outside of the Great Hall.

"Hey, I wanted to see if you wanted to walk to Astronomy together tonight? We can meet right here if you want to then walk together. Ron is coming too." Harry said with a smile as if they didn't have that weird moment in History of Magic earlier.

"Oh, okay, yeah. Meet here at 11:45?"

They both agreed then made their way to the dinner table. 

 

A few hours of reading, studying, and thinking about Harry, Draco was finally ready to leave for Astronomy.

He was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, thinking he would have to nap every Wednesday to be able to concentrate in class.

Grabbing his Astronomy books and filling his bag with everything he needed, Draco left through the portrait and went up the stairs to leave the dungeons.

Harry and Ron were already waiting for him and greeted him with big smiles before they all headed off up the stairs to go to the Astronomy Tower. The tower where it's held is actually the tallest tower at Hogwarts. 

On the way up, Draco could hear the other first years going up to the same tower. He suddenly felt bad for not waiting for Blaise. The Slytherins and Gryffindors were in the class together and it never seemed like Blaise had anyone to sit with or talk to when that was the case.

"Do you guys mind if my friend from my house joins us?" He asks as they walk up a spiral staircase, the windows on the side of them all completely dark on the outside.

"Sure. Who?"

"His name is Blaise. He's really nice, you'll like him."

 

Finally reaching the Astronomy Tower, they went out onto the top and found the circular tower to be a bit crowded with all of them on it, but Draco couldn't complain. The sky looked so pretty and he was actually getting a bit anxious to use the telescope he got from Diagon Alley. Blaise walked in with Professor Sinistra and smiled at Draco when he was waved over.

"Blaise this is Harry and Ron." Draco introduced them, but soon regret it.

Blaise didn't like them and Harry and Ron didn't like Blaise either.

At first everything was fine, but then Professor Sinistra called Ron 'Mr. Weasley' and Blaise had a fit.

"Weasley? Draco, you never told me you were friends with a Weasley." 

Of course, Draco really had no idea that was a big deal and was quite conflicted when they all looked at him as if he were supposed to pick a side; Blaise, or Harry and Ron.

"Why can't I just be friends with all of you?" He questioned, not listening to their first lesson.

"Because! The Weasley's are blood traitors, Draco! They think muggles are equal to us and they aren't."

With that, Harry stepped between Ron and Blaise, not wanting the two of them to fight.

"Guys, let just calm down. Who cares if they like muggles? There's nothing wrong with muggles, Zabini."

"Oh,  _you_ would think that, half-blood."

With that, Blaise walked off and went to sit with a group of Slytherins that Draco recognized as Vincent, Gregory, the girl from dinner, and some other boy that Draco didn't know. He wanted to be on good terms with all of his house, but Draco also wanted to be friends with Harry and Ron.

There was no way he could do both.

 

Thursday, Draco's schedule was a bit different. After going to Charms, Herbology, and Transfiguration without Harry, he was finally in his Defence class sitting next to Harry and Ron on his other side. Professor Black let them push another seat up so Ron could join them. Blaise had tried to get Draco to sit with him and Pansy (Draco learned that was the girl from dinner's name), but Harry and Ron had asked first. Maybe he could just take turns sitting with them.

"I have booked us dueling time in the Great Hall. We'll be moving the tables around so have a stage set up so we can go off in pairs to practice, but that won't be until after Christmas so I can make sure you're all ready." Professor Black informed them, leaning against his own desk. "But, as for today, our class will be about 5 minutes shorter than usual since you lot have flying lessons after, correct?" 

The class nodded and made excited chatter at the thought of being able to use a broomstick finally. The only person in class who didn't look very excited was Hermione. Poor girl looked like she was turning green just at the thought of being on one.

They were handed a worksheet that asked general questions about spells, leaving them to fill in the blanket and came with a list of possible answers that each question could be.

"Work on this paper for the rest of class and we'll go over the answers Monday when I see you again, be sure to really try on this paper. It's not going to be marked, but I would like to see how well each of you do just by using context clues to figure out which spell is which. You may work with your table, if you would like, but please keep your voices down."

Harry, Draco, and Ron all agreed to work together, thinking they could do the paper and talk at the same time.

"I cant wait to play Quidditch next year! I wish first years could be on the house teams or have a team of our own." Harry said immediately, making Draco nod. He was just as exicted for Quidditch as Harry seemed to be. 

"Have you ever gone to the Quidditch World Cup? Dad always tries to get us tickets every time, but they're always sold out." Ron frowned, probably having never attended.

The Quidditch World Cup is only once every 4 years in a different country every time, but Draco has only been once when he was 6 so he doesn't really remember it much, but he knows he enjoyed it. It  _was_ Quidditch after all.

"I went when I was 7, but I don't really remember it. We should all try to go next time! It'll be, what, fourth year? There's one this year, but I want to allow us all to have time and save up since it's really expensive. We can buy the tickets early to make sure we have good seats." Draco suggested. He wouldn't have to save up, but he wasn't sure what Harry's and Ron's families did so he didn't want to assume they had the money for it.

All 3 boys agreed that in just 4 years time, they would be at the Quidditch World Cup together. 

 

The first years were now at their first flying lesson. They were standing beside some school issued brooms as Professor Hooch told them to hold out their hand and say 'up' to get their broom to zoom up into their hand. Harry and Draco were the only ones that got their brooms up on the first try. 

The Slytherins and Gryffindors were standing on opposite sides of each other, but Harry and Draco still managed to smile at each other at the fact that they were the only ones who got it immediately.

Facing each other, they waited for everyone else to get their brooms to go up.

"Up...up! Up!" Ron groaned out as his broomstick laid flat on the ground still, not moving at all.

"UP!" Ron then tried shouting, but it was mistake. His broom lifted straight up, knocking him in the face. "Ow!" he held onto his face as Harry and Draco laughed, making Ron embarrassed. "Its not funny!"

Hermione was having trouble with hers as well. Most of the Slytherin house had their brooms in their hand by now, only Gregory didn't.

"Now, I want you to carefully mount your broomsticks and when I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground hard then lean forward slightly and touch back down to the ground."

Professor Hooch then blew her whistle and while everyone was simply hoovering in the air, a Gryffindor by the name of Neville Longbottom was getting higher and higher into the air, looking terrified. 

"Come back here this instant!" Hooch shouted as Neville's broom took him farther and farther away from the goup. It eventually stopped flying and both Neville and the broom were falling to the ground. 

"Oh, dear." Hooch mumbled out, rushing over to Neville. Apparently he broke his wrist and needed to be taken to the Hospital Wing immediately.

"Nobody move! If I come back and see anyone on their brooms, you will be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch!" She tells them, leaving the field to take Neville to see Madam Pomfrey.

As soon as she left, Blaise hopped on his broom and zoomed up in the air, "Anyone want to make a bet? We can fly around doing nothing and she won't do a damn thing." 

Hermione rolled her eyes at the Slytherin, all of them laughing except Draco.

"Get down, Zabini. You're going to cause trouble for all of us." Harry stepped up, walking over closer to the boy in the air.

"Yeah? Come and get me, Potter." Blaise smirked and shot off into the sky, turning an staying still on his broomstick. "Unless, of course, you don't know how to fly."

With that, Harry ignored Draco and Ron telling him not to get on his broom and went up after Blaise. The dark Slytherin boy pulled something from his pocket and hit it towards a window, smirking. "McGonagall's in for a real treat." 

Harry's eyes widened and went straight after whatever it is that Blaise threw towards her window. Harry wasn't going to let him ruin anything of hers. She was one of the nicest women Harry has ever met.

He was so close to hitting the window that Harry had to do a flip on his broom to miss it, but he stopped the round object from breaking the window. The round ball seemed to be some sort of ink holder, which Harry was annoyed at because not only would the window break, but ink would get everywhere. 

When he landed, everyone was cheering him on for the move he did. Draco was laughing and hugging Harry like Ron was while Blaise looked annoyed. He hadn't expected Harry to catch it. 

Just then, McGonagall called him over as she made her way outside. Harry was in trouble, he just knew it.

Draco gave him a small smile and nodded him to go. "It'll be worse if you don't listen to her. Find me when you can and tell me what happened." 

 

Harry wasn't in trouble so far. McGonagall took him inside to another classroom, asking the professor if she could borrow some student called Oliver Wood.

"Harry, this is Oliver Wood. Oliver, this is Harry Potter. I think he may be the Seeker you've been searching for." Her smile was large and hopeful, but Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Seeker? Professor do you mean...?" Harry wondered, looking up at her. She nodded and gave another smile.

"The Gryffindor team hasn't won the Quidditch Cup in 7 years, Harry. I saw you flying and I think I can convince Professor Dumbledore to bend the first years no Quidditch rule if it means you can help lead our house to victory."

Oliver just stared at Harry, looking him up and down as if he were inspecting Harry to make sure he wasn't broken or damaged. The feeling of Oliver's eyes all over his body made Harry blush a little.

 

When Harry found Draco later that night, Draco looked worried.

"Did they expel you? Im sorry, I should've done more to keep you from getting on the broom, Harry. It was Blaise, did you tell them that?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Harry says quietly, giving Draco a huge grin. "Come here." Harry drags Draco into an empty classroom by the main doors as Draco thinks to himself that, _yes_ he can keep a secret. He's got one of his own.

"McGonagall introduced me to someone named Oliver Wood. He's the Gryffindor Quidditch captain and they want to make me the new Seeker! I mean, Ive seen him around before in the common room, but I didn't know he was the captain!"

"What?! But, you're only a first year! Harry, a Seeker? This is so cool! When do you get a broom?" Draco said excitedly, but also surprised because Seeker at age 11? It was unheard of. Harry must be the youngest Seeker ever.

"I'm not sure yet. She wants to talk to Dumbledore about it. Can you believe it? I'm gonna be the Seeker for my house team, Draco! Oh, you have to come to the games! Even if I'm playing against your house I better see you wearing red!"

Draco grinned and nodded his head quickly, "I will, I will! I cant believe this, Harry. Seeker? Wow." 

They just stood there smiling at each other for the longest time, but before Draco could give him a hug, Professor Snape came walking in.

"Thought I saw you two coming in here. What are you hiding, Potter?" His nasty voice accused Harry, seemingly forgetting about Draco again.

"Sir, I pulled him in here. I just wanted to talk to him about...something." Draco took the blame, but Snape wasn't having any of it.

"Im sure you did, Mr. Malfoy. Move along. Oh, and by the way," Snape said once Draco and Harry were leaving, "5 points from Gryffindor."

 

Over the next few weeks, classes went by and so did flying lessons. They were now able to go up in the air for the whole class time, practicing being able to change speeds at will. Harry seemed to be a natural, really. He didn't even have to try when it came to flying, he just already knew how to do it somehow. Wood had noticed this during their practices and once he felt confident that Harry really was going to help them win this year, he made Harry keep it a secret that he was on the team. He was called their secret weapon. What Wood didn't know, was that Draco already knew. The Slytherin house were the ones that won the cup for the past 7 years and Wood didn't want them to know about Harry in case they tried to sabotage him. Thankfully, Draco had promised not to tell. The entire Gryffindor house was excited for the Quidditch matches to begin. They couldn't wait to bring the trophy in at the end of the year and Harry had vowed not to let them down. One of the Gryffindors, Dean Thomas, had asked Harry if he was going to buy a broomstick or use a school one, but Harry wasn't sure yet. He wanted to buy one of his own, but he knew that broomsticks cost a lot and he wasn't sure his parents would buy him the one he wanted. The Nimbus 2000 was out and was supposed to be the fastest broom in the world, Harry knew he would be able to win with it.

It was only a matter of convincing his parents to buy it for him.

Which might not be that hard, actually. When he wrote to them and told them, they were happier than ever. Even happier than when Harry came out to them last year. They said that being good at Quidditch ran in the family and that they weren't surprised by him being Seeker, just surprised at how early he seemed to have gotten on the team. Lily had baked her brownies and sent to Harry, remembering what he said about his friends Draco and Ron needing to try them, so she even sent extras. It became a weekly thing for her to send them, but Draco didn't always eat them. As much as he loved them, he knew eating a lot of sweets wouldn't go unnoticed by his mother around the holidays.

 

The secret came out just about a week before the first game. It nearing the beginning of November and Professor Sprout was having her classes re-pot the Moly flowers once again. Draco overheard some of the Ravenclaws talking about it and when he looked confused on how they knew, Lovegood told him that everyone had been talking about it since yesterday when they saw Harry out on the field in the Gryffindor uniform. He wondered if Harry knew the secret was out yet, but he probably didn't. So when class was over, Draco headed straight to History of Magic so he could tell Harry. 

"Harry!" Draco shouted from the doorway, running into him at their usual seats, "Everyone knows! They were talking about it in Herbology just now. They know you're on the team!"

"Great, now Wood is gonna think I told everyone. But who cares, my broom came in at breakfast, did you see? I was so excited about it, but now Im a little worried that the Slytherins are going to do something to it...no offense, Draco." Harry shrugged, making Draco shake his head.

"Not important, did you say your broom came in? Your parents got you the Nimbus 2000?!'

"Yeah, they surprised me with it! Told me no and then out of no where, it comes hitting me in the head at breakfast."

"I know I'm supposed to be rooting for my own house, but I really hope you win Harry." Draco whispers to both Ron and Harry, making them both laugh.

 

 

The days passed by quickly, but the longest day ever seemed to be Halloween. All day Draco had been looking forward to the dinner feast and the decorations it was sure to have. The Great Hall wasn't decorated during breakfast and was only starting to be decorated at lunch. The corridors were full of Halloween decor though. The Charms corridor was charmed to have skeletons jumping around when people walked by; pumpkins were around every corner, faces carved into them, orange and black tinsel hung around the windows, and Peeves had made sure to pop out in front of students and scare them. It was an all around good day other than the fact that they had double potions. Only good thing about that was that Draco was with Harry and Ron all morning long. At the beginning of the year, Draco liked Snape. But, as the weeks passed by, he had realized that Snape was an asshole to Harry. Whenever they would get in trouble, Snape only took points away from Gryffindor. If either of them tried to say it was Draco's idea, Snape took even  _more_ points away from Gryffindor. They had talked to Professor Black about it, hoping maybe he could do something, but all he did was grumble that Snape has always been a greasy git and he would never change. But, he did say sorry to Harry since he feels like its only because he and Harry's dad weren't very nice to him in school.

"But, in our defense, he was just the same back then as he is now. Probably even worse back then. He was always jealous of James and when Lily starting showing interest in him, Snape got even more jealous. He's always been in love with her, but Lily never saw him that way and he hated it. He even called her a mudblood once when she tried to stick up for him. Honestly, why did he ever think Lily would like him? Your mother is about as innocent and pure as they come, Harry, there's no way she would ever go for someone like Snape. Not that your father is completely innocent, but he's good to her. In school, he was practically obsessed with her. Your Uncle Remus and I, along with our old best friend, would always make fun of your dad for it. It was the best times, truly."

"What other friend?" Harry asked, confused because he didn't think there was another person in their group.

Sirius' face scrunched up like he hadn't meant to say that, "Oh, I didn't mean to say that. It was just your father, Remus, and I. Now shoo, I have papers to grade."

That was last week and Professor Black is still insisting that there wasn't another friend in their group. Harry stopped asking.

 

 

On Game day, Draco and Ron met up in the library to make a banner for Harry. 

"I hope nobody gets mad at you for sitting with us, especially since Slytherin is playing." Ron pointed out as they painted Harry's name on the long banner. 

"I think it'll be alright. Nobody really talks to me in Slytherin anyway. I think Blaise made sure nobody liked me. It's whatever, though. I have enough being friends with you and Harry." Draco shrugged, looking up when Madam Pince shushed them loudly, pointing to the sign that said 'No talking in the library' above her. 

"Let's just get this sign done then leave, Madam Pince annoys me." Ron rolled his eyes, painting a golden snitch to take the place of the 'O' in Potter.

 

The leaves were a golden yellow and red color now and continued changing everyday. Very few leaves were still green and the Whomping Willow was getting ready to shake all of it's leaves off. The air was chilly, but not enough to be extremely noticeable. The weather was clear for the first Quidditch game and Draco couldn't be happier. Harry and the entire Gryffindor team would have a better shot if the weather was clear and calm, unlike the times when Quidditch teams had to play in rough rain or wind.

As Draco and Ron settled down in their seats, Ron started laughing at Draco wearing Harry's Gryffindor scarf. 

"I didn't have anything red!" Draco defended himself with a blush, shaking off Ron's laughs and shoving him playfully, "Besides, he told me to wear red so I am."

Just after Draco said that, the Gryffindor team was coming out onto the field. Chasers Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell; Beaters Fred Weasley and George Weasley; Keeper Oliver Wood; and the Seeker Harry Potter.

Most of the Gryffindor team was looking good and very confident, except Harry who was looking a bit nervous.

"Go Harry!" Draco shouted loudly, making sure Harry could hear him. It made Harry smile up at the stands and mount his broom. 

The Slytherin team consisted of; Chasers Adrian Pucey, Marcus Flint (who was also captain), and Graham Montague; Beaters Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick; Keeper Miles Bletchley; and the Seeker Terence Higgs. 

 

"I want a nice, clean game everyone. On my whistle, 3...2...1..." Madam Hooch said as Flint and Wood shook hands a little to harshly then blew her whistle.

Each team flew up into the air quickly and Lee Jordan began commentating,

"Gryffindor is first in possession of the Quaffle! Johnson makes her way to the Slytherin goal and - OUCH! - Bole hit a bludger right at her. Slytherin in possession now, Flint is moving towards the Gryffindor goal quickly, dodging a bludger hit by a Weasley - Sorry, guys, don't know which one hit it."

Harry moved high up on the pitch, looking down below to see if he could find the snitch. Higgs was ignoring Harry because, to him, a first year would never be good at Quidditch. Harry desperately wanted to win and prove everyone wrong.

"And....GOAL! 10-0 Slytherin! Gryffindor Keeper and captain, Oliver Wood, looks extremely angry, watch out Sytherin! And Slytherin is once again in possession, Gryffindor fighting hard, - Gryffindor now in possession with Spinnet! Spinnet blocked by Pucey and - GOAL for Slytherin!"

Harry wasn't liking their chances. If he didn't find the snitch soon or if they didn't start scoring, Slytherin was going to win.

Their luck started turning around as soon as Slytherin got to 60-10.

"Gryffindor picking up the pace as Bell scores once again, the Quffale shooting right past Bletchley! Potter is flying around the pitch, keeping an eye out for the snitch, but it looks as is Higgs doesn't think he's worth following! Which will find the snitch first? My money is on Gryffindor."

"Jordan! No taking sides!" McGonagall scalds him. 

"Sorry professor! Slytherin back in possession, score 60-20. Johnson and Montague fight over the Quaffle, bumping each other to the side - AND GRYFFINDOR IS IN POSSESSION! Johnson shoots past Flint and Derrick, bludger coming from Bole and straight at Johnson, but barely misses her! SCORE! Johnson scores for Gryffindor with a score of 60-30! Slytherin now in possession, Montague scores and misses a bludger! Pucey now in possession for Slytherin - COME ON GRYFFINDOR! - zooming right by both Weasley's and nearly knocking them both off their brooms! Is he going to score? SCORE! 70-30 Slytherin! Higgs sees the snitch!"

Harry darts right over to Higgs across the field, begging his broom to go faster. Just as he catches up and reaches out, side by side with Higgs, Higgs shoves him aside and a bludger hits Harry, knocking him and his broom backwards. The cheer from the crowd lets Harry know that Slytherin got the snitch first.

"TERENCE HIGGS CATCHES THE SNITCH WORTH 150 POINTS! 220-30; SLYTHERIN WINS!"

 

The Gryffindor team lost and Wood was taking it badly. He accused the Slytherin team of cheating, but even Harry knew that wasn't possible. They played a fair game and, as Draco pointed out, it wasn't Harry's fault that they lost. 

"You aren't the only one responsible for them winning, Harry. They didn't really score either so why should they expect you to carry them to the finish line? You aren't the only one on the team, you know."

The team also was buckling down on practices. Wood had them out on the field so much that Draco and him hardly got to hang out anymore. If Harry wasn't in class then he was doing homework and if he wasn't doing homework then he was out on the field with the team. Fred and George were just as exhausted as Harry was when it came to Quidditch. They celebrated (even though they lost) by bringing out some joke packs they had in their trunks. "If you eat it, it'll make your tongue get really long. Filch has them banned because you slobber a lot when your tongue is enlarged and he always has to clean up the drool from the floor, but who says he has to know?" Fred grins, handing one to Harry. Harry smirked to himself as an idea came to mind. He had better plans than to use the tongue enlarging mint on himself.

He shared the plan with Draco when he saw him in class the next day during Defence. They planned it for lunch and neither boy could wait. The entire time in Herbology, Draco kept smirking to himself as he thought about how fun lunch was going to be. All he needed to do was not get caught.

Finally at lunch, Draco noticed as Blaise was looking away for a few moments and the only one that was looking at him as Harry from across the Great Hall. One nod from Harry and Draco slipped the mint into Blaise's goblet, looking away quickly and eating his chicken. From the corner of his eye, Draco could see Blaise taking a drink. 

 _What a git,_ Draco thought to himself and looked back up at Harry. They both wore the same smile on their face.

Blaise's tongue began falling out of his mouth as he spoke and soon enough everyone at the Slytherin table was staring the boy. 

"What the -" he started, unable to speak properly. 

Laughter began to file across the table, making the other tables join in when they looked over to see what was going on. Draco and Harry both joined in last so they didn't stand out, but apparently everyone already knew it was them anyway. McGonagall walked over and took Blaise to see Madam Pomfrey while telling Draco he had detention at the same time. She must've seen him slip the mint in his goblet. 

 

"I cant believe you got detention and I didn't, Im really sorry." Harry kept saying the next day during History of Magic. Binns didn't even care that they were talking, Draco doesn't even think he realized. 

"Harry, its alright. Honestly. You always get in trouble with Snape and I don't, its the same thing. I just hope that my detention isn't with Snape. I wish it could be with Professor Black, but Mcgonagall knows I like him so I doubt it will be. I'll probably have to clean up the castle with Filch or something. I'd take Snape over that anyday."

Both boys cringed at the thought of detention with Filch as the class came to an end. Blaise was still in the hospital wing and Draco was somewhat glad for it because now that everyone knows it was him, Blaise might hit back at him.

Draco didn't think it through too much.

Charms class was next for Draco and as much as he wished Harry was in there, they never did their work when they were together and Flitwick was too nice for Draco to disrespect like that. Next to him, Pansy sat down and gave him a smile. 

"The trick on Blaise was hilarious, Draco. How did you think of it?" She gave him a flirty look and Draco instantly realized she had a crush on him and that was why she always tried to talk to him. 

"I didn't think of it, my friend did, but ill tell him you said so."

"Potter? Really? He always seems so nice, I never would've thought that a Gryffindor planned that." 

Draco laughed and shook his head, "Harry isn't like that. It was just a joke. I like Blaise...well, sometimes. It wasn't meant to hurt him."

It was true. Draco liked Blaise. Maybe the prank made it seem like he didn't though. 

"I'll go see him later and bring him some chocolate frogs or something." Draco continued on, copying down the day's lesson and what spell they would be working on.

 

After class, Draco put his things back in his dorm before setting off to purchase some chocolate frogs from Snape. Every head of house sold the candies as the cart witch on the Hogwarts Express did. Fortunately, Snape only charged students in other houses more than the actual price. Draco only paid 5 knuts for 5 chocolate frogs while if others bought from Snape, they would be paying 3 knuts per chocolate frog.

"Mr. Malfoy, while you're here, may I suggest something? You may want to reconsider your friendship with Mr. Potter. He seems to be getting you into trouble lately and I would prefer if my house didn't stay in detention all the time. Understand?" Snape looked at him deeply, like he was trying to read Draco's mind. 

"Yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

 

Entering the hospital wing, Daco looked around at the multiple empty beds lined up on both sides of the wall before his eyes landed on Blaise laying in one near Madam Pomfrey's office. 

"I brought you some chocolate frogs." Draco said and dumped his pockets out on the table next to Blaise's bed. 

"Im sorry." He contined on when Blaise fell quiet, "I didn't know you'd have to be in here for so long, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. It was stupid and I really do like you and want to be your friend, I just... I also want to be Harry and Ron's friend."

Blaise looked up at him from the bed and sighed, sitting up under the blankets. "Im sorry, too. I guess I was just more mad that you seemed to like them better than me. I always try to talk to you and sit with you, but you always want to be around Harry and now Ron is there too and Im barely ever involved. I just wanted to be your friend and I got carried away. I don't actually believe in that blood traitor thing." 

Blaise looked embarrassed and shy and Draco couldn't help the smile on his face. "Its okay. We both messed up. Lets just start over. Hi, Im Draco Malfoy." He says professional-like and holds out a hand for Blaise to shake. 

"Im Blaise Zabini." Blaise grinned back, shaking Draco's hand. "Im glad we're friends now. Do you want to gather my work that I missed today and bring it to me? I don't want to fall behind, even if isn't by much."

"I think I can manage. I'll be right back." 

With that, Draco sprinted out of the hospital wing and went to all of their classes to get copies of the teachers' notes (in case anyone needs it, the teachers make magical copies of what they cover that day). 

 

Now that he and Blaise were okay, Draco was spending more time with him. After dinner was designated Blaise time where they played chess and exploding snap or studied together instead. Before dinner was always his time with Harry and Ron and they did pretty much the same thing.

His classes were going so well that Draco had the second highest marks in his year, right behind Hermione Granger. Draco didn't like her much. But, as it turns out, Harry and Ron were now friends with her. Harry was talking about what to get her for Christmas one day and Draco had quietly suggested another school as a gift, but Harry didn't hear him. Or, if he did, he didn't say anything. 

The beginning of December had arrived quickly and as much as Draco didn't like being cold, he loved seeing the blanket of white snow outside. The Slytherin common room was so cold that Draco had pretended to be sick so he could sleep in the hospital wing for two days. He had a feeling that Madam Pomfrey knew what he was doing, but was thankful that she even let him. She never questioned him either, which was also enough to be thankful for. It was much better than the ice box of a common room he had. 

Harry had offered to let Draco sleep in the Gryffindor common room with him and suggested that they could make a pile of blankets for a bed by the fire, but Percy told them no and threatened to take points away from Slytherin for not listening to him. Ron called him a git and left Percy to take points off of their own house instead. 

"What should I get Ron for Christmas? I want to get him something, but Im completely at a loss for ideas. He doesn't read so I cant get him a book, my family doesn't make anything so I cant bring him homemade sweets, and I dont want to just give him candy." Draco groaned at Harry as they sat in the Gryffindor common room under a blanket together while Ron was taking a nap in the dormitory. 

"Hmm. I was going to get him some Quidditch stuff. I saw this book about the history of the World Cup so I thought that would be neat, but you're right...he doesn't read."

"He might read a book about Quidditch though. You should get that book. I'll get him another Quidditch book. What do you want, Harry? I have an idea, but I want to hear about what you want."

"An idea, hm? Well, I think whatever you plan on getting me will be just fine." Harry reached over and adjusted the blanket so it was covering his toes more. 

"Be serious. What do you want that you don't already have?"

"Theres this one thing...but, it's impossible for someone else to get it for me. It has to happen on it's own."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Harry."

Harry sighed and shrugged, picking at the blanket. "Acceptance. My family already accepts me, and thats a good thing, but I dont know if anyone else would. My parents told me how the world is and I just -" 

Harry was cut off by Hermione coming down the stairs, aruging with some other girl. "No, thats not what I meant! I just meant that I think it would be wise for you to tell a teacher. They're not going to be upset or embarrass you or anything, half of the staff goes though this too!"

Both girls came to a hault when they saw Harry and Draco on the couch, Hermione's eyes practically buldged out of her head. 

"Oh, I didn't know anyone was down here. Sorry."

"What's wrong? Maybe we can help." Draco offered, but only got a nasty look from Hermione in return. 

"Nothing that concerns a Slytherin like you. Come on, lets go." Hermione drags her friend out of the doorway and they leave the Gryffindor Tower. 

"Ah, I love your friends." Draco rolls his eyes.

Harry frowned and went to hold onto Draco's hand, but Draco quickly pulled away when he noticed. 

"I, um, have to go. I'll see you later."

Draco left the Gryffindor common room and headed to the dungeons, completely confused and upset. Harry was obviously trying to hold his hand and as much as that made Draco's heart want to pound out of his chest, he didn't want it. 

So much could go wrong. They were friends.

Maybe thats what Harry meant by his parents supporting him. Maybe Harry already knew he gay and told them. 

If only he had parents like that, too.

 

Draco and Harry barely spoke the next two weeks, nor did they sit together in class. He could tell that Harry was confused and upset by it, but every time Draco saw him, he just got angry. He was jealous that Harry's family accepted him and his own didn't. He knows its not Harry's fault, but it makes him so mad and hurt. Draco already had enough hurt in his life and he didn't want to hear about how great Harry's parents were anymore. Not even Ron would talk to him once they both realized that Draco was ignoring Harry.

 

As the students were heading down to the Hogwarts Express to go home for the Christmas holiday's, Draco held on to Harry's present in his hands and contemplated giving it to him. Who even knew if Harry would want it anymore? 

"Hey." Draco mumbled out as they waited to get on, bundled up in warm clothing. "Here, its your present if you still want it."

Harry looked sad. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks and Draco knew it was all because of him. 

Hesitantly taking it, Harry stared down at it and Draco walked away to avoid any heart to heart conversation that may start up after Harry opened it. He had gotten Harry a book all about Quidditch with a list of careers that had to do with the sport, along with a first edition copy of _Quidditch Through the Years,_ thena broom servicing kit. Draco knew how much Harry loved the sport and he just wanted to get him something that would be useful too. 

In his compartment with Blaise, Gergory, Vincent, and Pansy, Draco looked out of the window sadly. 

"What happened with you and Potter? You were joined at the hip pretty much and now you aren't even talking." Gregory asked Draco from in front of him.

"Nothing, I don't want to talk about it." Draco snapped, making Pansy scoot over closer to him. 

"Guys, leave him alone about it. He's clearly upset!" She spoke up, putting an arm around Draco protectively.

 

One long, quiet train ride later and Draco was cluching onto his parents as they apparated home. Thankfully neither of them greeted him using his birth name on the platform when they saw him. It was all just hugs and a stern talking to from his mother when she saw how upset he was over something. 

"Sweetie, don't frown so much. You'll get worry lines." 

The manor was just as miserable as Draco remembered, but now it all stuck out even more than usual. The Christmas tree had decorations in pink, red, green, and white and photos of the three of them on the mantle next to it. All of which just reminded Draco that he wasn't ever going to be considered a boy by his parents.

"Your Aunt Bella is coming for Christmas and so is your Aunt Andromeda. Remember to be nice to your cousin, Tonks, Cassiopeia. Every time you see her you two fight, I don't know what is wrong with you, but it needs to stop. She is family and you always respect your family." His father said at dinner that night, Draco staring down at the white dress on his body that his mother laid out for him. At least it didn't have ruffles this time.

"Yes, sir."

 

Malfoy Christmas traditions included family, loads of food, presents, photos, dancing and music, and a set of matching outfits. The women in the family were stuck with green and red dresses that had a corset top and flowy bottom and the men were in black dress robes. 

Draco would give anything to be in a black dress robe right now.

His family filled up the living room as cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents all told him how pretty he looked, although many commented on his hair. 

"Why did you cut it so short? People might mistake you as a boy, Cassi."

 _Good_ , Draco thought, _let them_.

The only somewhat good part of the Christmas day he had was that there was a lot of his favorite foods out. Pumpkin pie, meat and potato soup, sweet breads, and fruits. Not even all of his Christmas presents could make him happy. After all, getting more dresses and books on growing up as a girl in the wizarding world weren't the things he would've asked for. The only thing he got that he even remotely liked was a book of spells to use in your everyday life from his Aunt Bella. So far, she was the only one Draco didn't mind being there on Christmas. 

To make things worse, Harry never wrote to him. Even though it was Draco that was ignoring Harry, it still upset him that Harry didn't even try. It was selfish, but he wanted Harry to miss him. 

The break felt way too long and way too short at the same time. After days of having to wear dresses and be called Cassiopeia 24/7, Draco was ready for school again. But, he was also dreading seeing Harry again. 

The Christmas break reminded Draco of just how well Harry had it. If Harry told his parents that he was a girl, Draco would bet that they would support him and it just wasn't fair. 

 

But, here he was, on the train back home with his new spell book being passed around to everyone in his compartment. Blaise, Pansy, Gregory, and Vincent; just like last time. 

"This is so cool, Draco. We should try to do this hot chocolate one when we get back. Says all you need is some water. Wonder why that is..." Vincent said, scrunching up his eyebrows in thought. 

"Its one of the rules of magic. You can't make food or liquids appear, except water. I don't remember the name of the law, but I know thats why. I remember it from my textbook when I was looking through it when we first got them before school started." Draco commented to them, rolling his eyes and taking the book back. 

"So I take it Potter won't talk to you still? You're still in the same bad mood as you were whenever we left for the holidays. Seriously Draco, what's wrong?" Blaise whispered to him as the other 3 talked about some of the gifts they got.

Whats wrong? His parents didn't want him to be himself, he had to wear dresses all break long, he feels like a freak that shouldn't have been born because of it, his best friends aren't talking to him (even if that's his own fault), and he was just so sad all the time. 

"Nothing's wrong, Blaise. I've just got a headache, okay?" Draco lied, putting his book back in his bag and leaned his head against the window to go to sleep. 

 

The train ride passed added by quickly. Everyone was shuffling out onto the grounds to head up to school as Draco spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione walking together and laughing. 

Harry didn't seem like he missed Draco at all. Neither did Ron. 

Now Draco was glad that he didn't get Ron's gift. Only reason he got Harry's was because he had already ordered it and didn't want it to go to waste. 

Of course they would be friends with Granger, though. They've already replaced him with the one person smarter than he is. 

 

Classes started back the next day and every class he had with Harry, Ron, and Hermione was awkward. He could tell that they kept watching him and talking quietly to each other. Every time he looked over at them, they would look away. Blaise claimed that they were just stupid Gryffindors that had nothing else better to do and to ignore them.

Maybe he was right.

At dinner the first night back, Draco heard a lot of commotion coming from the other side of the Great Hall and it turns out that the Weasley twins pulled a prank of the Gryffindor house. They put a spell on the foods that made everyone's deepest secrets be written out on their foreheads. Ron's said that he was jealous of Hermione, Hermione's said that she wished Professor Black was a student, and Harry's said that he was gay. 

The Weasley twins got in a lot of trouble for their prank, especially because Harry was outed. 

"We're so sorry, Harry. We had no idea thats what it would say. We didn't mean to do that to you." Fred insisted, watching as Harry looked like he was going to throw up. For a moment, Draco wanted to go over there and get Harry away from everyone, but then he noticed how everyone was being so nice to him and so supportive and Draco changed his mind automatically.

If that had been him and his forehead said that he was born a girl, he doubted that anyone would be comforting him. Once again, everyone supports Harry Potter and he doesn't even seem to be all that thankful. 

"Woah, Potter is gay? I never would've guessed." Pansy laughs, making Draco's blood curl, but laughs along with her. 

"Yeah, me neither. He's probably dating Weasley. They always did like to hang out alone." Blaise looked a bit surprised at Draco's words, but then laughed along with him. 

The words on the Gryffindor's foreheads only lasted a few hours, but by then, everyone knew their secrets. Like how Neville Longbottoms was that he wished he was in a different house. Draco soon found out from gossip that it was because everyone in Gryffindor intimidated him. 

"Maybe he does belong in Hufflepuff. What a loser." Gregory said as Vincent smirked, both of them laughing. 

It wasn't until February that any of the teachers commented on the sudden change from Draco. 

Professor Black held him back after class one day and shut the door, leaving them to talk in private.

"What's going on with you, Draco? You never sit with your friends anymore and you're constantly interrupting my class. This isnt you, I know it."

"Actually, I _am_ sitting with my friends. You know, Blaise and Pansy? Even Greg and Vincent are my friends. At least they think so anyway. They're more like minions that do whatever I want them to."

Black shook his head and rubbed over his face with his hands, "Draco, I know things are hard, but I can't help wondering if you stopped being Harry's friend because he told you he was gay? He told me that something happened and you stopped talking to him for no reason. Is that it? Fred and George Weasley outed him, do you really think he wanted to lose his best friend too? You of all people should understand how he's feeling."

Draco sneered at his professor and squinted his eyes in disgust. "How dare you bring me into this! Nothing happened, I just don't want to be his friend anymore. Even before he was outed by stupid Weasley's. Just mind your own business and leave me out of it... _sir_." Draco quickly added when he saw the look on Professor Black's face then walked out of the class to go to his next one.

 

With Transfiguration being the last class of the day that Tuesday, Draco served his detention then. He wasn't mad about having it before, but now that he wasn't friends with Harry, he was annoyed about having to serve it. 

"Professor Snape asked me to wait to give you the detention, that's why it took so long. He specifically requested you for this task." McGonagall told him as she walked him to the dungeons to do his detention with Snape. 

Walking in the room, Draco saw that Fred and George Weasley were serving detention with him too, making him give a groan out loud as McGonagall and Snape went out into the corridor to talk.

"Great. Just how I wanted to spend my evening, with _Weasley's_." 

"You think we want to spend ours with an insufferable prat like you, do you? You used to be so cool, Malfoy. What happened?" George rolled his eyes. 

"You think I care if _you_  think I'm cool? You're even thicker than I thought, Weasley." 

Snape came back in and shut the door, giving Draco an odd glance before grabbing two cauldrons with thick goo stuck onto them. "You two will be cleaning these. No magic." He smirked down at the twins, placing the cauldrons in front of them. "Follow me, Mr. Malfoy." Snape lead Draco into his storage closet at the back of the class, turning around to look at him once they were inside. "Talk to me, Draco. Is this about your family? Professor McGonagall has requested that I try to find out what happened between you and Potter. Not that Im surprised it happened anyway, you were always too good to be friends with someone like him." 

Draco shrugged silently, not wanting to talk about anything at all. "What do you want me to do in here? Nothing looks dirty."

Snape stared at him for a moment before sighing, "Just pretend to be cleaning out the old ingredients." He then walked out, leaving Draco alone in the storage closet.

The only thing Draco ended up doing for his detention was sitting on the ground of the storage closet and listening to the grumbles of annoyance and hard work coming from Fred and George.

 

About a week later, before the Ravenclaw and Slytherin match, Professor Black took them into the Great Hall for their dueling session.

"We'll be doing disarm only, understood everyone?" Black started off, looking directly at Draco and his group of friends.

"Get into pairs and we can start off. After a few rounds with your chosen partner, I'll draw names from a goblet and choose the next round of partners that way."

Draco paired up with Blaise as Pansy went with a boy called Theo and Greg paired with Vincent.

"Those two wouldn't know how to duel if it snuck up on them and cast an unforgivable." Blaise commented about Greg and Vincent. Draco smirked. 

Blaise turned out to be really good at disarming, but Draco was better. At one point, his wand flew across the room and nearly hit Professor Black. Draco was fairly certain that everyone thought it was on purpose, but even though it wasn't, he let them think it anyway. 

At one point, he heard Harry and Rom complain about how much of a git Draco was, questioning why they were ever friends with him. 

Draco questioned it too. His whole friendship with Harry and Ron was holding him back. It was a good thing that they weren't friends anymore, Draco decided. Like the sorting hat said at the beginning of the year, in Slytherin, Draco met his real friends. 

As much as Draco was hoping to be paired with Harry from the names in the goblet just so he could show off with how much better he was at spells than Harry, Draco ended up with Longbottom.

 

As February was coming to an end, the Slytherin house was competing in yet another Quidditch match. This time, it was against Ravenclaw. Draco didn't even have to attend to know that they would slaughter the other house, but he went anyway. He, Blaise, Vincent were cheering on their team as Pansy and Gregory stayed inside to study together for their upcoming exams. Draco already knew everything so he didn't feel like he needed to.

"At least you aren't cheering the other team on this time. Especially since we just won again. You're much better off with us than Potter, Draco." Pansy smiled at him as everyone on the field was cheering. Slytheirn had won yet another game, 380-60. They were in the lead for the cup again too, which was a good thing. But, as long as Gryffindor didn't win it, Draco didn't really care who won. 

"I see that now. Don't know what I was thinking."

The rest of that week was full of teasing Harry and his friends in class. Blaise and Draco were usually the ones who started it, but Harry and Ron had done it a few times. Like in History of Magic when Draco drew a picture of Harry falling down the stairs then charmed it to move (thanks to Aunt Bella's book, he knew how) then tossed it at Harry with a smirk. 

Harry didn't retaliate that time, but Draco could tell that he was upset by it. 

 

Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor just by 20 points in the next Quidditch game, which completely ruined any chance Gryffindor had of winning so, naturally, Draco celebrated by telling Peeves to roam around singing a song about it. 

**"Gryffindor lost!**

**Slytherin rules!**

**Or maybe the Hufflepuffs!**

**Or the Ravenclaws!**

**Either way, Gryffindor drools!"**

The next Quidditch game was in May, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, and again, Slytherin won. The cup was already in Slytherin's hands and Draco didn't know why they were even going to allow Hufflepuff to go against Ravenclaw, but he figured it would be a laughing match. Even more so that it meant Gryffindor was in last place.

That _Harry_ was in last place. 

 

In June, when the exams finally arrived, Draco had his Charms exams first. They waited outside in the corridors as Professor Flitwick called them each into the room, one by one, to see if they could make a pineapple dance across his long desk. Draco got it automatically and was even praised for his handy work with the Charms. Professor Flitwick told him that he had been the one to get it the fastest to far. 

For History of Magic, they had an hour to write a detailed essay about the self stirring cauldron. Professor Binns said that marks would be taken off if they forgot any important key information on the cauldron, such as; creation date, creator, first uses, what potions work in it and which don't, which ones its mainly used for, the pros and cons of a self stirring cadron, and the dangers of using one. 

Herbology's exam was explaining how to take care of a list of plants and flowers and their uses. Probably the easiest exam Draco had. 

Transfiguration's was where Professor McGonagall had them turn rats into a match box. Points were taken off if the match box had fur, a tail, or any rat like traits. Blaise's rat had a tail still, Draco learned. 

"Im telling you, I think I failed that exam. McGonagall didn't look too impressed with me."

Their potions exam consisted of Snape asking them how to create a the forgetfulness potion. Which, Draco knew by heart. He would certainly pass this one and all of the other exams. Snape had been breathing down everyone's neck, making them nervous. He hoped Harry got nervous and failed. Especially because he knew how bad Harry was at potions. 

Their Defence exam was merely a written one where Professor Black asked them to give the incantation to each spell listed and what it does, then to show him the movement of your wand for each one. 

The Astronomy exam was a bit harder than Draco would like to admit. They had to identify each planet and star on a map and when Draco got to the stars, he just had to do his best. Honestly, who _really_  needed to know the names and positions of the stars anyway?

 

The rest of the time was just getting their things ready to go home for the Summer. Draco didn't exactly want to leave, but he would at least have someone to write to over the Summer. He and Blaise agreed to write as much as possible, even Pansy had agreed. Though Draco suspected that she was only going to write to him and not Blaise too. Greg and Vincent didn't care either way. They both expressed how they didn't like writing letters and that they would just see everyone when they got back for their 2nd year. 

Luckily, all of them passed their classes and would be moving on to their 2nd year, though Greg nearly failed. 

 

The end of the year feast was upon them and as Dumbledore announced the Slytherins won the house cup _and_ the Quidditch Cup, cheers erupted and the decorations in the Great Hall all changed to colors of green and silver. 

"Here is the ending to another successful year of learning. I hope you all feel as though your brains have been well fed and that the first years have come to love this school we call home. Lets enjoy one last feast before you're all off home to empty those heads of yours for the Summer." Dumbledore announced with a smile as everyone dug into their plates full of food. 

Draco looked around and decided that he would miss Hogwarts. Even though he wasn't friends with Harry anymore, he felt like this place was still more of a home than his actual home. 

He got off the train at Kings Cross and hurried along to his mother and father before making eye contact with Harry, who was standing just a few feet from him. The man and woman hugging Harry looked over when they tried talking to their son, but found it was clear that he wasn't listening. 

It was obvious that they missed each other, but neither Draco or Harry would admit it. 

Draco sneered and turned his back to Harry, walking along to the apparating site with his parents.

"How was your first year at Hogwarts, Cassi?" Lucius asked Draco, patting his back as they approached.

Draco sighed at the name and shrugged, "Just fine, father."

And with that, Narcissa apparated them back to Malfoy Manor with a little surprise awaiting Draco. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Year 2 will be up soon!


End file.
